''Brave New World'' is an

America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

television series loosely based on the classic 1932 novel of the same name by

Aldous Huxley Aldous Leonard Huxley ( ; 26 July 1894 – 22 November 1963) was an English writer and philosopher. His bibliography spans nearly 50 books, including non-fiction novel, non-fiction works, as well as essays, narratives, and poems. Born into the ...

. It premiered on the day

NBCUniversal NBCUniversal Media, LLC (abbreviated as NBCU and Trade name, doing business as NBCUniversal or Comcast NBCUniversal since 2013) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational mass media and Show business, entertainment conglomerate (comp ...

streaming Streaming media refers to multimedia delivered through a network for playback using a media player. Media is transferred in a ''stream'' of packets from a server to a client and is rendered in real-time; this contrasts with file downl ...

service

Peacock Peafowl is a common name for two bird species of the genus '' Pavo'' and one species of the closely related genus '' Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae (the pheasants and their allies). Male peafowl are referred t ...

launched, July 15, 2020. In October 2020, the series was cancelled after one season.

Premise

The series "imagines a

utopian A utopia ( ) typically describes an imagined community or society that possesses highly desirable or near-perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia'', which describes a fictional island soci ...

society that has achieved peace and stability through the prohibition of

monogamy Monogamy ( ) is a social relation, relationship of Dyad (sociology), two individuals in which they form a mutual and exclusive intimate Significant other, partnership. Having only one partner at any one time, whether for life or #Serial monogamy ...

privacy Privacy (, ) is the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves, and thereby express themselves selectively. The domain of privacy partially overlaps with security, which can include the concepts of a ...

money Money is any item or verifiable record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts, such as taxes, in a particular country or socio-economic context. The primary functions which distinguish money are: m ...

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

, and

history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

itself." In an update of the original novel, an

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computer, computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of re ...

system named

Indra Indra (; ) is the Hindu god of weather, considered the king of the Deva (Hinduism), Devas and Svarga in Hinduism. He is associated with the sky, lightning, weather, thunder, storms, rains, river flows, and war. volumes Indra is the m ...

connects citizens via a

wireless network A wireless network is a computer network that uses wireless data connections between network nodes. Wireless networking allows homes, telecommunications networks, and business installations to avoid the costly process of introducing cables int ...

Summary

The series unfolds around John, who relocates from the Savage Lands to New London. New London's citizens live an anti-monogamous, anti-solipsistic, hedonistic existence. His mother (Linda) facilitates their escape from the Savage Lands but dies in the process. Although she wishes for a better life for her son, John's subversive influence infects and ultimately destroys New London society by disrupting its citizens' acceptance of its immoral caste system. In the aftermath, the New London AI (Indra), now embodied in John's ex-best friend (Bernard), is free to make the citizens of the Savage Lands less "savage" and John's now ex-girlfriend (Lenina) is promoted to make New London more "savage".

Cast and characters

* Alden Ehrenreich as John the Savage *

Jessica Brown Findlay Jessica Rose Brown Findlay (born 14 September 1987) is an English actress. She played Lady Sybil Crawley (2010–2012) in the ITV television period drama series ''Downton Abbey'' and Emelia Conan Doyle in the 2011 British comedy-drama featu ...

as Lenina Crowne, a technician who works at the Hatchery. She is a B+ who is a patient of Bernard. * Harry Lloyd as Bernard Marx, an A+ who works as a counselor * Kylie Bunbury as Frannie Crowne, a close friend of Lenina * Lara Peake as Madysun * Nina Sosanya as Mustafa Mond * Joseph Morgan as CJack60/Elliott * Sen Mitsuji as Henry Foster, the new Director of Stability * Nicholle Hembra as Alpha Female *

Hannah John-Kamen Hannah Dominique John-Kamen (born 7 September 1989) is an English actress. She is known for her television roles in ''Black Mirror'' (2011–2016), '' Killjoys'' (2015–2019), ''Brave New World'' (2020), and Netflix miniseries '' The Stranger' ...

as Wilhelmina "Helm" Watson *

Demi Moore Demi Gene Moore ( ; née Guynes; born November 11, 1962) is an American actress. After rising to prominence in the early 1980s, she became the world's highest-paid actress by 1995. List of awards and nominations received by Demi Moore, Her acc ...

as Linda, John's mother who lives in The Savage Lands in a house with her son * Jimmy Winch as Young John the Savage * Ed Stoppard as the Director of Stability

Episodes

Production

In 2015, Syfy announced the development of the series, with Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey producing. In 2016, writers Les Bohem, Grant Morrison, and Brian Taylor were attached to the project. On February 13, 2019, the series was moved to the USA Network, with David Wiener replacing Bohem as a writer and Owen Harris directing the pilot. In April 2019, Ehrenreich was cast as John the Savage, and Lloyd was cast in the series regular role as Bernard Marx. In May 2019, it was announced that Jessica Brown Findlay was cast in the role of Lenina Crowne. In June 2019, Kylie Bunbury,

, Sen Mitsuji, Joseph Morgan, and Nina Sosanya were added to the main cast in supporting roles, with

set to appear in a recurring role. On September 17, 2019,

announced that the series would be moved to

. The series premiered on July 15, 2020. Dungeness Estate in

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

is the location for the "Savage Lands"; the Old Lifeboat Station there doubles as John and Linda's house. On October 28, 2020, Peacock cancelled the series after one season. It marked the first major TV series cancellation for the streaming service.

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, the series holds an approval rating of 46% based on 56 reviews, with an average rating of 5.70/10. The website's critical consensus reads: On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, the series has a weighted average score of 55 out of 100 based on 26 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Sonia Saraiya of '' Vanity Fair'' gave it a positive review: Judy Berman of ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'' suggests the show owed more to ''

Westworld ''Westworld'' is an American science fiction dystopia media franchise that began with the Westworld (film), 1973 film ''Westworld'', written and directed by Michael Crichton. The film depicts a technologically advanced Wild West, Wild-West-th ...

'' than Huxley, but said the series looked gorgeous and the performances were solid. Even so, Berman found the show lacking: Daniel D'Addario of '' Variety'' gave the series a mixed review:

Accolades

Release

''Brave New World'' premiered on July 15, 2020, on Peacock in the United States and

Sky One Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non- terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989, ...

in the UK on October 2, 2020. Internationally, the series was originally scheduled to premiere on

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming television service owned by Amazon. The service primarily distributes films and television series produced or co-produced by ...

in Oceania and New Zealand on August 21, but the series was instead released on September 18, 2020. In Canada, the series was released on Showcase on September 13, 2020. In Russia, it was released on July 16, 2020, on the streaming service KinoPoisk HD. In Germany, the series was released on the streaming service TVNOW at the end of September 2020. In the rest of Europe, the series was released on the streaming service Starzplay on October 4, 2020. In Australia, it was released on the streaming service Stan on October 16, 2020.

References

External links

* * {{Aldous Huxley 2020 American television series debuts 2020 American television series endings 2020s American drama television series 2020s American science fiction television series Brave New World Dystopian television series American English-language television shows Peacock (streaming service) original programming Television series by Amblin Entertainment Television series by Universal Content Productions Television shows based on British novels Television series set in the future Television shows shot in Kent