The BBC and Stan have revealed first images from their upcoming adaptation of William Golding’s brutal novel Lord of the Flies. The series is based on the classic literary tale about a group of young boys who find themselves stranded on a tropical island with no adult supervision. Adapted and directed by multi-BAFTA award winners Jack Thorne (Adolescence, His Dark Materials, Enola Holmes) and Marc Munden (The Mark of Cain, National Treasure, Help), the four-part series marks the first for television.
The series is produced by Eleven for BBC iPlayer and BBC One and is in co-production with Stan, which will air the famously dark tale in Australia. Sony Pictures Television will distribute the drama internationally.
Filmed on location in the lush forests of Malaysia, the series includes a cast of fresh, new faces—many of the young actors making their professional acting debut. BBC’s first images showcase the group of castaways as they navigate survival on a tropical island without adult supervision. The sprawling beaches and thick greenery serve as a brutal juxtaposition to the increasingly violent nature of the boys as they attempt to remain civil in a place devoid of civilization.
The cast includes Winston Sawyers as charismatic group leader Ralph, Lox Pratt as Ralph’s adversary Jack, David McKenna as the lovable braniac Piggy and Ike Talbut as the kind-hearted Simon. Thomas Connor appears as Roger, Noah and Cassius Flemming as twins Sam and Eric, Cornelius Brandreth as Maurice and Tom Page-Turner as Bill. An ensemble of more than 30 boys will join the show’s leads as the rest of the camp’s “biguns” and “littluns.”
First Images of the Cast in Lord of the Flies
Published in 1954, Lord of the Flies is the story of a group of schoolchildren who become stranded on an uninhabited island after a deadly plane crash. Ralph is a natural-born leader who, with the support of the highly-intellectual Piggy, attempts to maintain some degree of civilization among the group. Jack, arrogant and power-hungry, disagrees with Ralph’s methods and assumes leadership of his own. In the absence of adult supervision, the boys slowly descend into savagery. They turn against one another in a tragic struggle for survival.
Set on an unnamed Pacific island in the 1950s, Thorne’s adaptation closely follows the original novel. It expands on the story’s dark themes, namely the cruelty of human nature, the loss of innocence, and the transition from boyhood to adulthood. Each hour-long episode is titled after one of the core characters—Ralph, Piggy, Simon and Jack. Different from previous movie adaptations, the series explores four distinct perspectives as the boys descend into madness.
Thorne saw lots of success with Emmy-award winning Netflix limited series Adolescence, which delves into similar themes of societal expectations and violence in young boys. It will surely be interesting to see what he does with Golding’s brutally iconic tale.
As of now, there is no release date of BBC’s TV adaptation of Lord of the Flies. Make sure to check back in for upcoming announcements about the savage narrative.