The Nevers, a new sci-fi series from HBO and Joss Whedon, gets an action-packed teaser
Aux Features The Nevers
After setting the wheels of The Nevers in motion back in 2018, creator Joss Whedon left HBO’s original sci-fi series last year due to the “unprecedented challenges” of 2020. That hasn’t delayed its April premiere, however, as screenwriter Philippa Goslett (Mary Magdalene, How To Talk To Girls At Parties) has stepped in as showrunner. Today, HBO has shared a teaser for the action-packed series.
Laura Donnelly (Outlander) and Ann Skelly (Vikings) lead a massive cast of characters with goofy names like Amalia True, Penance Adair, and Dr. Horatio Cousens, playing the “champions” of a new English underclass in the final years of Victoria’s reign. The “Touched,” this so-called underclass, are comprised of souls who suddenly manifest abnormal abilities, making them a threat to the city’s criminal underground and moneyed elite. Have a glance at the numerous character descriptions—and their silly monikers—for a more in-depth look at the people populating this heightened world.
Then watch the below teaser, which introduces a whole host of those characters and their abilities, which they primarily use to kick the shit out of some dudes.
Olivia Williams, James Norton, Tom Riley, Rochelle Neil, Eleanor Tomlinson, Amy Manson, Denis O’Hare, Nick Frost and Ben Chaplin round out the cast of the series, which is slated to debut sometime in April.
77 Comments
I don’t have HBO Max, but now that I’ve seen this trailer I’m gonna go get a sandwich for lunch.
I got a Disney sandwich. It’s pretty good and bizarrely cheap. The thoughest part is wresting it away from the youngest, who insists on it being Frozen.
I am on S27 of my Simpsons binge, having started back when Disney+ first became a thing. There are still many genuinely good if not great episodes, but holy shit are there a few which just go absolutely nowhere and some that even acknowledge they did that.
i watched The Simpsons s1 to s13 for the first time recently, and i loved it.Not thought about exploring more, but with lockdown going on, feels like i have the time.
It would be awesome if they provided an audio track for the “creators’ commentary” like they have on the dvds. I watched those for probably the first 10 seasons or so and loved them so much. Really interesting and fun.
YMMV. Certainly as you drag on to season 20-26 there are multiple terrible episodes per season, although I will say each episode still contains some decent gags/jokes.
Leaguegroup of OrdinaryExtra Womentletomen! (And I shall call you, the Junior League!)I dunno, HBO has a tendency to bite off more than it can chew with special effects (see: the reduced role of the daemons in His Dark Materials, the barely-there Direwolves in GoT), it looks like these superpowers are at least cost-conscious. The names are silly, it looks like that one with Bloom and Delavigne, it could be fine or crap it just depends on the execution.
Oh I had a thought, since those two DC shows moved to HBO Max they may have a better handle on special effects? Neither holds back too much.
I dunno, it’s hard to find a case where the shying away from fx has more impact than in His Dark Materials, barely having the daemons do anything really messed the whole thing up
Isn’t that made in association with a UK studio? I stopped watching it a few episodes into the first season, but I think it is from my recollection of the opening credits.
It is, and it does seem like we are going to have to keep track of which products are HBO, which are HBO Max, and which are co-productions with either. As interestingly weird as “Raised by Wolves” was, it wasn’t up to the coherence standards of a normal HBO show. This can be an asset, as with The Flight Attendant, but if you’re looking for The Wire quality that isn’t yet going to come from an HBO Max production (and Showtime shows are pretty hokey). To tell you about HDM: there is still a season left (which I’ll watch because shrug) but I am already looking forward to somebody taking a crack at it again in 15 years and doing a better job.
This… is all unimportant to me. I don’t exactly have network loyalties, shit Mr Robot was on USA, I don’t watch anything on that. I’ll just consider shows on an individual basis and give them a shot if it mildly intrigues me for some reason, as I assume most people do.
I’m not talking about thinking a show is quality because of what platform it’s on, I’m talking about the different channels almost as if they are auteurs: they have identifiable tendencies in the shows they make. HBO Max shows are jarring because they are clearly made by a different group than standard HBO shows. That can be good because they are less self-serious, but they’re also messier.
While I didn’t really like every other episode of Lovecraft Country for mostly storytelling reasons, I thought that some of its special effects were incredibly good looking. Even in the off episodes I thought there were some sequences that looked really impressive, maybe one building collapse aside.
Lovecraft Country is flagship HBO, it got all the bells and whistles. I’m not saying the fx are low quality, they are just often skimped on. And I’m guessing you are referring to the initial building collapse which, yeah wasn’t super 🙂 Lovecraft Country also went all in on the practical special effects like the water floodings and the viscera bursts, which was appreciated
Yup, it was that one early building. If anything I was surprised that they would lean so heavily into CG effects when they could have cheated so many of the shots, gone for tone over overt spectacle like the first 80-ish% of the first episode, or just relished in its cast talking at each other. I figured this would have been one of their efforts at starting something lower key like Game of Thrones at the start and then maybe later on grant it more spectacle depending on success. (So it’s just weird they haven’t announced a renewal nor cancellation.)I didn’t really track any of the behind the scene feature for fear of spoilers so I didn’t know they went heavily with practical effects. The skin related gore looked consistently wild and the flooding in the Indiana Jones episode set the vibe really well too, though the logistics of that entire caper kind of confused me. (I got the impression those tunnels were supposed to frequently flood yet there were so many cobwebs and functional electricity. It seemed way more of problem for suspension of disbelief, compared to some of the stuff that audiences could more readily attribute to magic.)
I mean, the tunnel connected Chicago and DC? so I was okay with magic
Yeah there was that or the magically disappearing plank over a chasm and somehow that led directly to the flooding tunnels if I remember correctly— yet if the characters were figuring something out about their environ then it confused me when they came to a conclusion that wasn’t supported by what they/the audiences were looking at.As qualms with storytelling go though, there were other choices or beats that confused me more.
The production timeline of this show is confusing to me.
The news stories when Whedon left made it sound like they hadn’t filmed anything yet, but I guess the season is done and he won’t be involved with S2? Or are they still filming and just rushing it out?
The first season finished filming in October, a few weeks before Whedon stepped down. He won’t be involved if/when there is a second season.
I think that’s correct. He finished season 1, quit the show, and then they hired a new showrunner at the end of January for season 2. If anything, it sounds like HBO likes season 1 enough to continue the concept.
Oh, I didn’t realize this was still happening after they sent Whedon to the puppy farm.
Well, it was finished shooting before he went anywhere.
So basically, “The League of Extraordinary X-Men”
If this show is far enough along that it is airing in April, how much effect can Whedon stepping aside/being removed as showrunner in November really have had? How many episodes were in the can by then? – IMDB lists Whedon as directing two of them. . .
He left the show after filming of the season was 100% completed.
I believe the whole season was practically finished before Whedon left. They hired a showrunner (in late January) to replace him for Season 2, which, I guess, is an indication that they like what they’ve got.https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/hbos-the-nevers-showrunner-replace-joss-whedon
I am so tired of Victorian/Steampunk crap. No body has anything original to say about it other then “Hey look how cool this is”. I wonder if its just an excuse for show runners who get off on seeing women in uncomfortable clothes
I kinda like the Victorian/Steampunk bit, I’d just like for it to be done well. Which, so far, not so much.
I wish they’d focus less on the cool gadgets and more on Victorian characters suffering from cholera and typhoid.
You have died of dysentery
Always be a banker.
*a bottle episode about a bottle of laudanum*
Or like, a cut on your finger that gets infected.Also it’s weird that no one mentions the two hours it takes to undress, pee, then get redressed in all those clothes.Or how disgustingly hot and humid it can be when you’re wearing the equivalent of four king size sheets.
ugh, at least they didn’t have to wear these oppressive face masks! The Victorian era steampunkers never knew how easy they really had it
Crotches are actually a fairly recent development in women’s underwear. Prior to the 20th Century, women’s underwear consisted of two leg pieces that connected to a waistband and tied at the waist. In some countries they were literally called “leg clothes”. In the U.S. both crotchless and the newer closed crotch underwear were being offered by manufacturers as late as 1922.
It scares me to think how you know this.
If only there was some way that you could not watch this show.
But I can’t!!! I must watch all shows all the time!!!
Don’t ever change my good man, you’re perfect just they way you are.
“I wonder if its just an excuse for show runners who get off on seeing women in uncomfortable clothes”
I mean, since YOU don’t like steampunk, I guess misogyny is the only reason anyone could, right?
I kinda wish there was Madame Vastra, Jenny Flint, and Strax Doctor Who spinoff instead of this. Well I’ll probably give it a shot, I have low expectations.
I think I cringed about a dozen times while watching that trailer – each time those women were referred to (or referred to themselves) as ‘The Touched’. Just – wrong! Like they are infamous for all growing up in the same predatory Victorian orphanage for girls …I don’t think I can sit through a show where I have to hear ‘The Touched’ repeatedly – cringes will give way to full body shudders.On one hand i reckon it would be great to see Summer Glau guest star on this show – back on our screens again kicking ass. But on the other, I still remember her awful English accent in that one Firefly episode, and can already hear give Dick van Dyke a run for his money with lines like “I’m one of The Touched I am…”
Show me on the TV where The Touched touched you…
what about if she sang a Shary Bobbins ditty
WHIPPIN CUPCAKES, HUAH! Is still a thing in my house.
Stan Bush: *shifts in seat uncomfortably*
From Joss Whedon whose understanding of the concept of strong female characters is that they are female characters who are literally strong.
Hey come on now. They are not just strong, but also really hot.
Yep. Because no female in a single Joss Whedon production has ever been strong in any other way.
My favorite Joss Whedon character is the one played by a skinny white woman and her character makes witty comments all the time.
Mine’s Zoe!
Mine are Wesley and Illyria!Only one of them is a skinny white woman…and she doesn’t understand witty comments!
You really did not watch Buffy then, because she wasn’t strong because she could kick vampire butt. As Neil Gaiman put it best: “I think the big thing to point out to people [trying to write ‘Strong Female Characters’] is, you know, possibly they should go and hang around with some women. And also, it’s worth pointing out that people, unfortunately, misunderstand the phrase ‘strong women.’ The glory of Buffy is it was filled with strong women. Only one of those strong women had supernatural strength and an awful lot of sharpened stakes. And people sort of go ‘Well yes, of course Buffy was a strong woman. She could kick her way through a door.’ And you go ‘No, well that’s not actually what makes her a strong woman! You’re missing the point.’”
they also have to be waifishly thin and uniformly white (token exceptions allowed), especially if the setting is supposedly predominantly non-white
I like shows like this. I also like Buffy, Angel, The Avengers, Firefly, Cabin In The Woods and even Brain Dead Poets Society. Toy Story is also good and Agents of SHIELD is better than I expected. I hope this is good. I’ll watch at least four episodes.
Check out Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog.
Did someone throw darts at a board and hit Victorian and X-men?
Whedon’s arc of Runaways had a similar idea to this, which felt rather shoehorned in there.
I stand ready to pre-hate this because of Joss Whedon.
What a blindingly original and well-considered stance.
Just trying to fit in. Now, which one of you AVClub commetors was supposed to order the pitchforks? I need one.
Ohhh you’re a troll.
Noooo just very observant.
Seek AVC user recognitions for all your pitchfork-related needs.
sure … but he dropped out in Nov 2020 and though exec produces he’s really been held at arms length.
FYI, Whedon dropped out in November 2020, well after the entire first season had been written, just after finishing principal production for all the episodes of season one. The new showrunner will be responsible for season two.
For some reason a show about a bunch of Victorian women who are “Touched” reminds me of the the popularity of Ben Wa balls with the women who operated the endless rows of sewing machines in garment factories at the time. Apparently one of the women employees figured out that the pumping leg motions used to power the sewing machines would roll the balls about just…perfectly and word spread like wild fire. In no time armies of women were merrily pumping away throughout their 12-14 hour shifts.
So it’s a rerun of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen?
Because when people suddenly manifest super powers, they’re the easiest group for someone to oppress. Because they’re so helpless.
In this case, I would say it is more that the already oppressed suddenly got superpowers. Presumably because the process is not random, but someone or something out to do a bit of overthrowing of the social order.
I’m going to be very very annoyed if this has an amazing first season like American gods and then just drops the F off because ray fisher is a total nutbag and AT&T/HBO basically has put a hit on Whedon from here to eternity
People are still doing the “about to go into hand-to-hand combat, put on a smirk, stand there and make a snarky quip, tilt head to side with knuckle-crack sound added” bull shit?? Really!? I was up for this before, but that alone gets this a hard pass. (Especially since not only did they trot out that agonizing cliché in the show, they thought it was part of the best 30 seconds of the series.)
if my neck made that sound when I cocked it like that, I’d go to the ER. Even IF I was a superpowered Victorian-era steampunk lady who could throw fire.
I’m not enamored with Whedon the way I once was, but I’m also not anti-Whedon. I’ll tune in just because this looks interesting enough to fill in some background while I also work on other things. Worst case, it’ll suck and I won’t watch more than an episode or two. Best case, it’ll be better than it looks and become my new favorite show. Most likely case, it’ll be good enough that I’ll watch it with just enough interest and enthusiasm to keep watching it but not enough that I’ll be sad if it gets an untimely cancellation.
Would be great to see someone do something new – visually – with super powers. Instead of the flames between hands, touching something and turning it to ice etc. You can see why people who don’t like superhero movies think they’re all the same from the trailers. I love them – but feel a new look, different take is due. Shifting it to ye olde times doesn’t count.