Epic fantasy TV series are having their day in the sun, thanks in large part to the recently departed Game of Thrones. That mega-hit HBO saga normalized strange worlds full of intoxicating magic and strange creatures, paving the way for the next generation of visual storytelling. We have a number of fantasy series to look forward to in the near future—Showtime’s The Kingkiller Chronicle, HBO’s His Dark Materials, Hulu’s The Eyes of the Dragon—but first up is Amazon Prime’s Carnival Row, which debuts later this month. We’ve had a few teases, but the newest trailer paints the best picture yet of what to expect. Let’s take a look.
As you can see, Carnival Row looks like something brand new in the field of fantasy TV. Per this new trailer, the show looks to come fully loaded with faeries, steampunk cities, murder and politics, and everything in between. The series was created by René Echevarria and Travis Beacham, and directed by Jon Amiel; it stars Cara Delevingne and Orlando Bloom as lovers torn apart by circumstance, something that haunts them into their new future.
Here’s the full plot synopsis from Amazon:
With a serial killer loose on Carnival Row, and a government that turns a blind eye to the deaths of its lower class citizens, Rycroft Philostrate (Orlando Bloom), a war-hardened investigator, is the only person willing to stop the murders and maintain the fragile peace. But when Vignette Stonemoss (Cara Delevingne), a faerie refugee, turns up in the Burgue, she forces Philo to reckon with a past he’s tried to forget.
And we can’t wait to see what they’ve conjured up when Carnival Row debuts on Amazon Prime on August 30. Spend the next few weeks singing the title to the tune of Lindsey Buckingham’s “Holiday Road”.
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Images: Amazon