HBO releases full trailer of the new sci-fi drama of the time, The Nevers

An inexplicable event gives supernatural powers to a select group of people in Victorian London, who must fight against prejudice and those who would exploit their skills in The Nevers, a new original series coming to HBO next month.

HBO won a fierce bidding war and approved a direct order for the series in 2018 with Joss Whedon (The Avengers, Hut in the forest, etc.) as a writer, director, executive producer and showrunner. Whedon brought Douglas Petrie and Jane Espenson – both worked with Whedon on Buffy the Vampire Slayer– on board as additional executive writers / producers. He said the following about the series title during Comic-Con in 2018:

They themselves are not called that [The Nevers] In the show. It is a phrase that aims to evoke a kind of reaction to their strangeness, to what is considered unnatural. The idea that you should never be like this, you should never have existed. Something is not as it should be, and you have no right to have any strange powers or abilities that you have. And this idea, that some people are not of the natural order, is fascinating to me. I do not agree with this. But for me, it’s one of those things where you take something negative and use it as an emblem of honor, basically. Certain things could never happen – they are happening. And the people with whom they are happening are taking their place in the world.

Last November, Whedon announced that he was giving up on the project, citing exhaustion and “the physical challenges of making such a big show during a global pandemic.” (Whedon has been in trouble in recent months for accusations of harassment in the workplace, both from Ray Fisher, also known as Cyborg, during Justice League remake, and various Buffy cast members, but HBO said there were no similar reports about Whedon during the production of The Nevers.)

The COVID-19 pandemic stopped production, so the 10 episodes will be divided into two parts. Six episodes will air on HBO (and broadcast on HBO Max) starting on April 11, while the remaining four will be completed and aired at a later date, hopefully this year. “There was a natural pause in the narrative at age six, so the idea was to air six episodes,” Casey Bloys, head of content for HBO and HBO Max, told The Wrap last month. “So, at least, we had something to disclose to subscribers and fans.”

According to the official premise:

August 1896. Victorian London is shaken to its foundations by a supernatural event that gives certain people – especially women – abnormal abilities, from wonderful to disturbing. But no matter your particular “laps”, everyone who belongs to this new subclass is in grave danger. It is up to the mysterious and quick widow Amalia True (Laura Donnelly) and the brilliant young inventor Penance Adair (Ann Skelly) to protect and shelter these talented “orphans”. To do this, 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 appearance of the extraordinary skills of the “Tado”. Amalia and Penance are working with a wealthy spinster named Lavinia Bidlow (Olivia Williams), who runs the Orphanage, a haven for the Tocados. They include Annie Carbey (Rochelle Neil), also known as Bonfire, who can control the fire; Dr. Horatio Cousens (Zackary Momoh), who has a gift for healing; Primrose Chattoway (Anna Devlin), who is 3 meters tall; Myrtle Haplisch (Viola Prettejohn), who has lost the ability to speak any language that 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 mute son. Amy Manson plays Maladie, an unstable and violent member of the Touched who embarks on a killing spree.

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

HBO released an initial teaser in February, with lots of punches and bravery. This latest trailer exposes the basic premise and gives us a better idea of ​​the general tenor of the series. It looks like a winning mix of action, humor and suspense, so it puzzles us. The Nevers debuts on HBO and HBO Max on April 11, 2021.

List image by HBO