TV/STREAMING
THE FIERY, ELECTRICALLY-CHARGED VICTORIAN SCI-FI OF THE NEVERS By TREVOR HOGG
Photos by Keith Bernstein and courtesy of HBO except where noted. TOP: Mechanical devices and sparks were incorporated into the workshop of Penance Adair (Ann Skelly) to emphasize her ability to create futuristic electrical inventions. OPPOSITE TOP: The inventions of Penance Adair are derived from her ability to see potential energy and what it would do. OPPOSITE BOTTOM LEFT: The coachman is a mechanical device made by Adair that inhabits a world that is an authentic recreation of Victorian London. OPPOSITE BOTTOM RIGHT: A single street block was constructed and redressed to look like several others when needed.
In the HBO series The Nevers, spores are released by an alien spaceship, causing a group of Victorian-era women and men to develop special abilities that result in them becoming social outcasts and subjugated to brutal experimentation. Mixing the genres of period drama, science fiction and horror is creator Joss Whedon, which is not surprising considering his credits include the Avengers franchise, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly. He subsequently left the production with the remaining six of 12 episodes being completed by showrunner Philippa Goslett (Mary Magdalene). “Joss is a veteran of visual effects projects and knows the routine,” notes Visual Effects Supervisor Johnny Han, who was also involved with One Night in Miami and Welcome to Chechnya. “Joss understood from the first script readings how important it was to identify what was going to be visual effects, but once we got the overall idea of how to do them, he trusted us. Philippa is amazing as well. She has been good to embrace the world that we’ve already halfway established and is working that into her material. Even though Philippa has done fewer visual-effectsheavy projects, I’m excited because it means that I can be useful and walk her through the process.” The Nevers was impacted by a high-profile HBO production. “A lot of our team came from Game of Thrones,” reveals Han. “I was the new kid. Everyone was coming fresh off of the finale, so they had such a well-oiled machine and professional way of working – that was such a treat. There wasn’t any drama. Everyone knew what you were there to do, that it was hard work and not everything goes right.”
40 • VFXVOICE.COM SUMMER 2021
PG 40-44 THE NEVERS.indd 40
5/3/21 4:57 PM
