Brave New World Trailer Part of Peacock Rollout
With the soft rollout of, the questionably named, Peacock officially under NBCUniversal has entered the streaming wars.
Included among their mostly old, a bit of rehashed and a bit of new in the form of the latest adaption of the classic Aldous Huxley novel Brave New World.
You may have heard already that despite all popular odds but staying true to modern Hollywood’s failing upwards policy Alden “not the Han Solo you are looking for” Aldenreich is in this but hey, so is Demi “Less is never” Moore.
For those of you who didn’t get it as part of an assigned reading:
As citizens of New London, Bernard Marx and Lenina Crowne have only ever known a rigid social order, a perfect pharmaceutical called Soma, and a culture of instant gratification and ubiquitous sex. Curious to explore life beyond the strictures of their society, the two New Worlders embark on a vacation to the Savage Lands, where they become embroiled in a harrowing and violent rebellion. Bernard and Lenina are rescued by John the Savage, who escapes with them back to New London. John’s arrival in the New World soon threatens to disrupt its utopian harmony, leaving Bernard and Lenina to grapple with the repercussions. The three become entwined in a fraught relationship that awakens them to the dangers of their own conditioning.
Brave New World‘s Who’s Who
Alden Ehrenreich (Solo: A Star Wars Story), Jessica Brown Findlay (Castlevania), Harry Lloyd (Legion), Hannah John-Kamen (Ant-Man and The Wasp), Sen Mitsuji (Altered Carbon), Joseph Morgan (The Originals), Nina Sosanya (His Dark Materials) and Kylie Bunbury (When They See Us).
Directing duties will be split over the 9 episodes between Owen Harris (Black Mirror), Craig Zisk (Wu-Tang: An American Saga), Aoife McArdle (Kissing Candice), Andrij Parekh (Watchmen) and Ellen Kuras (Umbrella Academy) who will also be serving as Executive Producers.
Writers are Brian Taylor (Mom and Dad), Grant Morrison (Fear the Walking Dead) and David Wiener (Happy!).
SyFy channel initially began the process of updating Brave New World for the 21st century in 2015. It bounced over to the USA Network before finally settling at Peacock which seems to have pulled it together.
Check it out:
First Impressions
It looks okay but I’m seeing the same type of approach that was taken in the other two screen adaptations (1980 and 1988 TV movies). Instead of delivering a straight adaptation they try to put a modern spin on it which negatively affects the core narrative.
Even Ridley Scott backed away from this story saying :
“When you re-analyze it, maybe it should stay as a book.”
The novel wasn’t supposed to be entertainment per se, more of a warning about where society could be headed and how we treat the detractors of a system we are convinced, though maybe not perfect, is the best we can hope for. The author himself considered it a “negative utopia” as opposed to a parody.
Does a society numbed by pills and obsessed with sex and the ever-elusive concept of peace ring look or sound familiar to any of you?
No official release date is set for Brave New World but the Peacock officially goes online July 15, 2020.