HBO releases full trailer for new sci-fi period drama the Nevers

Unexplainable event bestows supernatural powers on a select group of people in Victorian London, who must fight prejudice and those who would exploit their abilities in Nevers, a new original series coming to HBO next month.

HBO won a fierce bidding war and approved a direct serial order in 2018, with Joss Whedon (The Avengers, Cabin in the woods, etc.) as a writer, director, executive producer and showrunner. Whedon brought in Douglas Petrie and Jane Espenson, who both worked with Whedon on Buffy the vampire slayer—On board as additional executive writers / producers. He said the following about the series title at Comic-Con in 2018:

They themselves are not called so [The Nevers] in the show. It’s a phrase that aims to evoke some sort of reaction to their quirkiness, to what is considered unnatural. The idea that you should never be like this, you never should have existed. Something is not the way it should be, and you are not allowed to have the weird power or ability that you have. And this idea, that some people are not of the natural order, fascinates me. I don’t agree with that. But to me, it’s one of those things where you take something negative, and wear it as a badge of honor, essentially. Some things could never happen – they do. And the people they meet take their place in the world.

Last November, Whedon announced he was quitting the project, citing exhaustion and “the physical challenges of putting on such a huge show during a global pandemic.” (Whedon has been grappling with charges of workplace harassment in recent months – both from Ray Fisher, aka Cyborg, during Justice League reshoots, and from several Buffy cast – but HBO said there weren’t any similar reports of Whedon during the production of Nevers.)

The COVID-19 pandemic has however halted production, so the 10 episodes will be split into two parts. Six episodes will air on HBO (and air on HBO Max) starting April 11, while the other four will be completed and released at a later date, hopefully this year. “There was kind of a natural narrative break at six, so the idea was to air six episodes,” Casey Bloys, head of content for HBO and HBO Max, told The Wrap last month. “At least we had something to offer subscribers and fans.”

According to the official premise:

August 1896. Victorian London is shaken to its very foundations by a supernatural event which endows certain people – especially women – with abnormal capacities, from the marvelous to the disturbing. But no matter what their particular “tricks”, all who belong to this new lower class are in grave danger. It is incumbent on the mysterious widow Amalia True (Laura Donnelly) and the brilliant young inventor Penance Adair (Ann Skelly) to protect and shelter these gifted “orphans”. To do so, they will have to face the brutal forces determined to annihilate their species.

The pilot opens three years after any inexplicable event that led to the emergence of the extraordinary capabilities of the “Touched”. Amalia and Penance work with a wealthy bachelor named Lavinia Bidlow (Olivia Williams), who runs the orphanage, a haven for the Touched. They include Annie Carbey (Rochelle Neil), aka Bonfire, who can control fire; Dr Horatio Cousens (Zackary Momoh), who has the gift of healing; Primrose Chattoway (Anna Devlin), who stands 10 feet tall; Myrtle Haplisch (Viola Prettejohn), who has lost the ability to speak any language other people can understand; Mary Brighton (Eleanor Tomlinson), a singer who must find her voice to inspire hope across the city; and Desirée Blodgett (Ella Smith), a prostitute with a young dumb son. Amy Manson plays Maladie, an unstable and violent member of the Touched who sets out on a killing spree.

The cast also includes Ben Chaplin as Detective Frank Mundi, who tries to solve a series of brutal murders; Pip Torrens as Lord Massen, who sees the Affected as a threat to society; Nick Frost as Declan Orrun, aka the Beggar King, an amoral criminal lord who helps Amalia when it suits him; Denis O’Hare as unbalanced surgeon, Dr. Edmund Hague, who longs to uncover the source of these unusual abilities; Tom Riley as Augie Bidlow, Lavinia’s geeky younger brother; Kiran Sonia Sawar as Harriet Kaur, a Scottish Sikh and aspiring lawyer; Elizabeth Berrington as Lucy Best; and James Norton as Hugo Swan, described as a “pansexual aristocrat” who owns a private underground club and sees the Touched as a veritable gold mine for exploitation.

HBO released a first teaser in February, with a lot of punches and bravery. This latest trailer fleshes out the rationale and gives us a better idea of ​​the overall content of the series. It seems like a winning mix of action, humor and suspense, so color us intrigued. Nevers debuts on HBO and HBO Max on April 11, 2021.

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