How ‘Renegade Nell’ Brought Nell’s Powers to Life

Renegade Nell was a “chance to reimagine what a Disney hero is.” So says director Ben Taylor, who directs and executive produces the Disney+ original series created by Sally Wainwright.

Taylor, known for Sex Education and Catastrophe, says Louisa Harland‘s ass-kicking Nell Jackson “makes absolute sense as the third part of that triangle” made up of powerful female characters created by Wainwright, such as Happy Valley‘s Catherine Cawood (Sarah Lancashire) and Gentleman Jack‘s Anne Lister (Suranne Jones).

In the eight-episode Renegade Nell, Nell Jackson, a quick-witted and courageous young woman, finds herself framed for murder and unexpectedly becomes the most notorious outlaw in 18th-century England. But when a magical spirit called Billy Blind (Ted Lasso‘s Nick Mohammed) appears, Nell realizes her destiny is bigger than she ever imagined.

The cool, and occasionally inconvenient, thing about Nell’s powers is that they activate when she’s in danger. The pixie Billy will only show up with the assist if Nell, or the innocents around her, are being threatened, not if Nell starts the fight herself (and as we see, she often does — but her intentions are righteous!).

Despite the 18th-century setting, there’s a lot of modernity to Nell. Namely in her refusal to conform to gender norms and a deep-seated defiance of complacency in the face of injustice. This is perhaps why she was chosen to receive these special abilities (that reason, and Billy’s existence in general, will hopefully be explained in depth should the show be renewed). But how did they create the illusion of Nell’s powers with practical filmmaking, not just special effects? Taylor says this was a key part of their artistic vision for the series.

“Modernity was really important to us, and it was squaring that away with absolute refusal to accept any anachronisms from Sally,” Taylor explains. He notes that, as her previous series have shown, Wainwright’s work is “incredibly detailed, accurate, and well researched, so everything in there is based on genuine folklore from the time.” How they portrayed Nell’s powers is where the modernity came in, as it’s a challenge of how U.K. period dramas are typically filmed.

“It’s all accurate. Everything we’re doing with the conspiracy plots is all real. But we were desperate to push a sense of modernity in the way we shot it and the way we executed the fight sequences,” he says. “The U.K. make brilliant period dramas, but there is a sort of received pronunciation of ‘this is how the camera moves in a period drama.’ We wanted to scruff that up a bit and find a way of making a modern piece even though it’s set hundreds of years ago.”

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Taylor adds that “there’s an anarchic quality to Nell as a character” that he loves. The word “punk” was frequently used as a reference term for the costume and production design departments, all based “within the realms of accuracy” for the time. It was “the anarchic quality of her” that the team “really embraced,” Taylor says, “probably most obviously in the fight sequences.”

“The idea that when Billy Blind goes into her, it’s like this shot of adrenaline that just knocks everything off-kilter,” he says. “So the camera becomes handheld where it’s been tracking dolly up to that point. There’s a lot of heightened physics, there’s the introduction of VFX. It’s taking what you’ve seen before and putting a different lens on it.”

Renegade Nell really taps into the vein of classic Disney fantasy adventures. If you like Hook, if you like Pirates of the Caribbean, you’ll like Renegade Nell. Taylor says that Hook was a huge stylistic inspiration for the series, as the Robin Williams classic has high-stakes action made for audiences young and old.

“The DNA of the show was really, really important to find and make sure it made sense on the platform,” he says. “I wanted it to be as dark and scary as we’re allowed to make it, and I wanted it to be as violent and the stakes to be as high as they allowed us to make it. But at the same time, it has this huge heart. When it works on all cylinders, it feels like a quintessential family viewing experience, and Hook was one of the things we had up on our mood reference board as something that did that.”

Renegade Nell, Season 1 Available Now, Disney+