The Nevers Trailer: HBO series takes super heroics to the Victorian era

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Tighten your corset, brush up on your most devastating spells, and watch out for those chamber pots because the full trailer for HBO's The Nevers is here! Today's trailer is for Part One of The Nevers, which consists of six episodes. HBO's Victorian adventure begins on Sunday, April 11, 2021 (9:00-10:00 p.m. ET/PT), with Part Two (also six episodes) to follow at a later date. The series will air on HBO, with HBO Max subscribers also having access to the show.

Plenty of familiar faces have assembled to make up the ensemble cast of The Nevers, including Olivia Williams (The Ghost Writer) as Lavinia Bidlow, the wealthy benefactress funding the orphanage for Amalia’s outcasts, who are also known as the Touched. Additionally, James Norton (Little Women) plays Hugo Swann, the rich and irreverent proprietor of a den of iniquity, Tom Riley (Da Vinci’s Demons) stars as Augustus “Augie” Bidlow, Lavinia’s sweet, awkward, younger brother with a secret of his own, Pip Torrens (The Crown) as Lord Gilbert Massen, a high-ranking government official leading the crusade against our heroines, Ben Chaplin (The Thin Red Line) as Inspector Frank Mundi, who’s torn between his police duties and moral compass.

Oh, did you think we were done? Not on your life. Settle in, folks, because we've got lots of other actors to name.

Denis O’Hare (American Horror Story) plays Edmund Hague, a deranged doctor searching for the source of the powers, Amy Manson (Once Upon a Time) as the tortured, murderous Maladie, who derives power from pain, Rochelle Neil (Terminator: Dark Fate) as the fire-wielding Annie “Bonfire” Carby, one of Maladie’s motley gang, Zackary Momoh (Seven Seconds) as orphanage doctor Horatio Cousens, whose turn equips him with healing powers, Eleanor Tomlinson (The Illusionist) as Mary Brighton, a broken and resilient performer pursuing her dream of singing on stage, Elizabeth Berrington (In Bruges) as Lucy Best, adaptive and streetwise, her quick-wit and high spirits mask the pain of a tragic past, and Anna Devlin (All the Money in the World) as Primrose Chattoway who, at ten feet tall and a dreamy demeanor, wishes to be an ordinary girl not taking up too much space.

Hey, where are you going? I'm not done naming people yet.

Kiran Sonia Sawar (HBO Max’s Pure) also stars as Harriet Kaur, a young Scottish Sikh and aspiring lawyer, determined to live her life as she planned, Viola Prettejohn (The Witcher) as Myrtle Haplisch, a middle-class girl rescued from a family who cannot understand her – literally, as she can no longer speak any form of language they understand, Ella Smith (Ray & Liz) as Désireé Blodgett, a prostitute with a power that gets her in trouble and a six-year-old son who never speaks, Vinnie Heaven as Nimble Jack, a rakish and charming young thief and an expert at breaking and entering, and finally, the great Nick Frost (Shaun of the Dead) stars as feared criminal overlord Declan “Beggar King” Orrun.

Per HBO, here's the official synopsis for The Nevers:

August, 1896. Victorian London is rocked to its foundations by a supernatural event which gives certain people — mostly women — abnormal abilities, from the wondrous to the disturbing. But no matter their particular “turns,” all who belong to this new underclass are in grave danger. It falls to mysterious, quick-fisted widow Amalia True (Laura Donnelly) and 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 kind.

Although Joss Whedon served as the creative force behind The Nevers and was set to serve as writer, director, executive producer, and showrunner, HBO has removed him from the project. Whedon's unceremonious exit was the result of the filmmaker being at the center of an investigation by WarnerMedia (HBO’s parent company) over allegations of misconduct on the set of Justice League made by star Ray Fisher. Not long after that, a number of men and women who've worked with Whedon on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and other projects have accused the once fan-favorite creative of further misconduct. Essentially, Whedon has been outed as a dumpster fire of a human being and Hollywood is no longer interested in entertaining his creative endeavors. 

“We have parted ways with Joss Whedon. We remain excited about the future of ‘The Nevers’ and look forward to its premiere,” HBO said in a statement. 

“This year of unprecedented challenges has impacted my life and perspective in ways I could never have imagined, and while developing and producing ‘The Nevers’ has been a joyful experience, I realize that the level of commitment required moving forward, combined with the physical challenges of making such a huge show during a global pandemic, is more than I can handle without the work beginning to suffer. I am genuinely exhausted and am stepping back to martial my energy towards my own life, which is also at the brink of exciting change,” Whedon said. “I am deeply proud of the work we have done; I’m grateful to all my extraordinary cast and collaborators, and to HBO for the opportunity to shape yet another strange world. ‘The Nevers’ is a true labor of love, but after two-plus years of labor, love is about all I have to offer. It will never fade.”