Meet the Cast of Joss Whedon’s ‘The Nevers’ on HBO (PHOTOS)
Laura Donnelly (Amalia True)
Amalia is described as “the most reckless, impulsive, and emotionally damaged hero of her time” who is “a menace to stuffy Victorian society and would die for the cause and kill for a drink.”
Olivia Williams (Lavinia Bidlow)
Lavinia is “a wealthy spinster and champion of the ‘Touched,'” who uses her family fortune to fund the orphanage where Amalia and many of the Touched live. She is described as “stern and old-fashioned, but as strong-willed and clever as anyone she confronts.”
James Norton (Hugo Swann)
Hugo is “a pansexual posh boy whose charm has about five years left on its lease. He runs a secret club and a side trade in blackmail. He’s devoted to fulfilling everyone’s worst impression of him — and fascinated by the Touched.”
Tom Riley (Augustus “Augie” Bidlow)
Augie is “a sweet, disarming nerd and Lavinia’s younger brother. A keen ornithologist, Augie is happy to let his older sister take the reins of the family fortune. He finds the Touched unnerving, but is drawn to them by his increasing infatuation with Miss Adair, and by the schemes of his nefarious best friend Hugo.”
Ann Skelly (Penance Adair)
Penance is “Amalia’s dearest friend and one of the first to join her cause. A devout — yet heretically progressive — Irish girl, Penance has genius for invention. She is delighted by her power, and her default is love and acceptance. But she’s firm in her moral sense and will be guided by what’s right over what’s expedient every time.”
Ben Chaplin (Detective Frank Mundi)
The detective is “big, gruff, and deeply moral,” and “trusts no one, least of all himself. His reputation for sudden violence (and excessive drink) is not unwarranted. Frank finds himself caught between the powerful, who ignore the laws of the land, and newly empowered, who ignore the laws of physics.”
Pip Torrens (Lord Massen)
The former General, now Peer, is described as “staunch, unflappable, and merciless in his defense of the British Empire” and “may be the only man who sees clearly what havoc these few strange people can wreak upon the established order, which he will protect, one way or another.”
Zackary Momoh (Doctor Horatio Cousens)
Horatio is “one of the few successful West Indian physicians in London” and is married with a son. His “fortunes took a dark turn when he met Amalia and discovered his own ability. Now he works with her and the Beggar King, those who don’t care who is or isn’t ‘different.'”
Amy Manson (Maladie)
Described as “genuinely unstable,” Maladie was “committed by her husband,” “warped by a power she can’t understand,” and “tortured by doctors intent on finding its source. She now lives underground, runs a gang, and is on an infamous murder spree. She affects a theatrical parody of a bedlam waif, but mad as she is, she’s a woman with a purpose.”
Nick Frost (Declan Orrun, a.k.a. The Beggar King)
The “charismatic and brutal” Beggar King “runs or has a piece of most of the low-level criminal activity in the city. He’s perfectly happy to help Amalia and her cause and equally happy to sell them out. He backs winners, and the Touched are long odds.”
Rochelle Neil (Annie Carbey, a.k.a. Bonfire)
“A career criminal,” Annie has the “ability to control fire and is happy to hire it out. Came up rough, stayed that way, but she’s neither impulsive nor cruel — just looking out for herself. No matter who she works with or for, Annie trusts only Annie and the fire.”
Eleanor Tomlinson (Mary Brighton)
Described as “gentle but surprisingly resilient,” she “pursued her dream of singing on stage. A disappointing career and a broken engagement haven’t diminished her spirit. She’s going to be great. She’s going to be very surprised how.”
Denis O’Hare (Dr. Edmund Hague)
Edmund is “a gifted American surgeon” who “uses his skills in the coldest, must brutal way possible … in the name of progress.”
One year after HBO gave Joss Whedon’s The Nevers a straight-to-series order, the sci-fi drama has set its cast.
The series follows a group of Victorian women who find themselves with unusual abilities, relentless enemies, and a mission that might change the world. Whedon called it “maybe the most ambitious narrative [he’s] created” in a statement.
Whedon will serve as executive producer, showrunner, writer, and director. Bernie Caulfield, Jane Espenson, and Doug Petrie will also serve as executive producers, and Espenson and Petrie will be writers as well.
Click through the gallery above for the cast and their characters.
The Nevers, Coming Soon, HBO
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