Home TV News ‘Outlander’s Laura Donnelly To Star In Joss Whedon’s HBO Sci-fi Drama ‘The Nevers’

‘Outlander’s Laura Donnelly To Star In Joss Whedon’s HBO Sci-fi Drama ‘The Nevers’

by Dave Elliott
'Outlander's Laura Donnelly To Star In Joss Whedon's HBO Sci-fi Drama 'The Nevers'

‘Outlander’s Laura Donnelly To Star In Joss Whedon’s HBO Sci-fi Drama ‘The Nevers’

‘Outlander’ star Laura Donnelly is clearly a fan of historical sci-fi, as she swaps one science-fiction-based period drama for another to take the lead in Joss Whedon’s The Nevers on HBO.

‘The Nevers’ is an epic sci-fi drama which follows a gang of Victorian women who find themselves with unusual abilities, relentless enemies, and a mission that might change the world. Whedon will direct, produced and server as showrunner on the series. He is also co-writing the series with fellow ex-‘Buffy’ writers Jane Espenson and Doug Petrie.

Donnelly is set to play Amalia True, the most reckless, impulsive, emotionally damaged hero of her time. A menace to stuffy Victorian society, she would die for the cause and kill for a drink. “Laura Donnelly has charisma, wisdom and an anarchic precision that not only captures Amalia but defines her,” said Whedon. “She’s fierce and she’s funny – and I need both for the journey ahead.”

Along with starring as “Jenny” Fraser Murray in ‘Outlander’, Donnelly has also appeared in Sky Atlantic’s ‘Britannia’ in which she played Hella, and has popped up in episodes of ‘The Fall’, ‘Missing’, ‘Casualty’ and ‘Merlin’. An accomplished stage actress, she won Best Actress award at the Olivier Awards for her performance in Jez Butterworth’s ‘The Ferryman’, and also starred in Butterworth’s play ‘The River’ alongside Dominic West and Miranda Raison. She then reprised her role in ‘The River’ for the Broadway production alongside Hugh Jackman.

Whedon is, of course, the man behind ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’‘Angel’‘Dollhouse’, and our beloved ‘Firefly’. This marks the first time Joss has been fully back in the driving seat of a show since ‘Dollhouse’ ended back in 2010. He then went on to helm the first two ‘Avengers’ movies and served as an exec producer on ‘Agents of SHIELD’ for brother, Jed Whedon, and sister-in-law, Maurissa Tancharoen.

“I honestly couldn’t be more excited,” commented Joss when the series was commissioned. “The Nevers is maybe the most ambitious narrative I’ve created, and I can’t imagine a better home for it than HBO. Not only are they the masters of cinematic long-form, but their instant understanding of my odd, intimate epic was as emotional as it was incisive. It’s been too long since I created an entirely new fictional world, and the HBO team offer not just scope and experience, not just ‘prestige,’ but a passionate collaboration. I could go on, but – I’m impatiently grateful to say – I have work to do.”

The Nevers, was given a straight-to-series order by HBO. They have yet to give a release date, but we would presume it’s not going to arrive before Autumn 2019 at the very earliest (it could well be 2020.) When it does, it should automatically air on Sky Atlantic due to their carriage deal with HBO. We’ll let you know when we hear more!

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