Television is going through a golden age, but the goldrush has brought on a number of consequences. One of the more welcome aspects is the accelerated merging of genres â in the way that RTÃâs Dead Still married macabre comedy with a period piece and, more recently, Skyâs Intergalactic overlaid sci-fi with a prison break drama. Itâs in this fruitful landscape that we welcome The Nevers: a female-fronted HBO series that mixes fantasy sci-fi with a historical drama.
Leading the cast are Belfast woman Laura Donnelly (who won an Olivier Award for The Ferryman) and Co Wexford woman Ann Skelly. Theyâre the unofficial leaders of âthe Touchedâ, a group of outcasts, mostly women, who find themselves with abnormal powers after an extraterrestrial entity in the sky expends its energy over London in the Victorian age. These abilities ostracise them from society, as decreed by Empire-loving Englishmen in suits.
HBO has been searching for its new Game Of Thrones and this exuberant fantasy series ticks a lot of the boxes. Large cast of colourful characters? Check.
Several potent modern phenomena have cross-pollinated to create this lavish, messy fantasy series. Few individuals have stamped their own style and taste on English-language pop culture so deeply as the creator and original showrunner of The Nevers, Joss Whedon, here once again dispensing the sort of clever-clever gags and cartoonified violence that helped to make his previous shows Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1996-2003), Angel (1999-2004) and Firefly (2002-03) some of the most beloved, analysed and imitated television of all time.
The concept is also familiar, from Marvel’s X-Men franchise (to the comic-book manifestation of which Whedon contributed) and from recent similarly themed endeavours such as The Umbrella Academy and Doom Patrol (both 2019): a group of individuals with special gifts support one another while society spurns them as freaks.
The Nevers is a six-part HBO fantasy series that’s been dubbed “The Magicians meets Bridgerton” by Refinery29.
In the last years of Victoria’s reign, London is beset by the Touched: people – mostly women – who suddenly manifest abnormal abilities – some charming, some disturbing.
Among them are Amalia True (Laura Donnelly from Outlander), a mysterious, quick-fisted widow, and Penance Adair (Ann Skelly from Vikings), a brilliant young inventor. They are the champions of this new underclass, making a home for the Touched, while fighting the forces of… well, pretty much all the forces – to make room for those whom history as we know it has no place. Watch it now »