the innocents
Worst Face scenariow w w.sci fi n ow.co.u k
The show is a love story
first and foremost.Their road to freedom
won’t be easy.
| 059Taking
shape
Shapeshifters you may not
have heard of from around
the world...Leshies
Origin: Slavic mythology
Leshies are woodland spirits that are
known to protect wild animals, but also
enjoy playing tricks on people and
leading them astray. They are rarely
seen, but they can sometimes be heard
in forests, laughing, singing or whistling.
They can transform into men, and are
good at imitating human voices.kiTsune
Origin: Japanese folklore
Intelligent and magical, a kitsune is
a Japanese fox with as many as nine
tails and the ability to shapeshift into
human form. They are great tricksters,
and willingly manifest themselves into
people’s dreams. In some regions they
can also bend time and space, and drive
people insane.seLkies
Origin: Faroese, Icelandic, Irish and
Scottish mythology
Selkies are sea creatures with the ability
to transform from seal to human form.
However, in order to transform back
they must reapply the same skin they
shed. Often the subject of romantic
tragedies, selkies are allowed to make
contact with humans before they must
return to the sea.púca
Origin: Celtic folklore
These Celtic fairies can transform into
pretty much any creature they want,
but they are always identifiable by their
dark fur and luminescent orange eyes.
Púcas are known for helping humans
and giving good advice if they are
treated well, but they also aren’t above
confusing and terrifying them if it
comes to it.aswang
Origin: Filipino folklore
A combination of vampire, witch and
ghoul, aswangs are evil spirits. They
are cannibalistic, eat the dead and are
always female. They can transform into
big black dogs, boars and unassuming
humans, and have been known to eat
children and unborn foetuses. Aswangs
are greatly feared.very very interesting.’ Just with these little scenes
- we explore the character more as the story
unravels, but those little scenes, it’s beautiful. It’s
destabilising. You can’t quite get a read on him.”
Most of the series is set in the UK but some
scenes, namely those featuring Halvorson and
the characters in his circle, cross the North
Sea and head for the beautiful landscapes
of rural Norway. The choice of location isn’t
random though; it was inspired by the creators’
research into shapeshifters and the mythology
surrounding them.
Looking at Norse mythology, Elkington and
Duric read about old Viking warriors known
as the berserkers who rampaged through
Scandinavia before settling in a country.
According to legend, they would shapeshift
into wild animals for battle, and the touring
berserkers were often represented as packs
of wolves that streamed down hillsides to
attack villages.
“We’d been talking about shapeshifting as
something visual, something thematic,” says
Elkington. “It really appealed to us to find a
seed of something from legend, something
real in a cultural history that we could really
develop into our shapeshifting mythology. The
fact that we chose the berserkers was interesting
in itself, as they were all male, and a very
warlike, physical, brutal piece of history. So we
decided to take that and make it female, make
it emotional, make it romantic, and because it
was Norse mythology, that’s why we decided to
use Norway for that strand of our story. Also, it
looks beautiful, on a very superficial level – get
the camera on that!”The Innocents launches on Netflix on 24 August.you can’T
quiTe geT
a read
on guy
pearce
HANIA ELKINgTON