EXCLUSIVE: Netflix has bagged the U.S. rights to Jack Thorne‘s Lord of the Flies TV adaptation.
It’s a major acquisition for Netflix, as several potential buyers were understood to be keen on the buzzy drama series, which comes from Sony-owned Eleven Film and Thorne’s One Shoe Films and is for the BBC in the UK and Stan in Australia.
We’ve got word the deal is one of a glut distributor Sony Pictures Television (SPT) has snagged for the show, as the U.S. studio prepares for the London TV Screenings later this month.
The buyers are Sky (Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy), CBC (English-speaking Canada), Radio-Canada (French-speaking Canada), TVNZ (New Zealand), Syn (Iceland), U-NEXT (Japan), Yes (Israel), Globoplay (Brazil), Telia (Estonia), Telia Play (Lithuania), Tet+ (Latvia), HBO and HBO Max (Central and Eastern Europe and Poland) and beIN (across the Middle East and North Africa).
The four-part series, based on William Golding’s novel of the same name, launched on the BBC and Stan on February 8, and will be presented at the Berlin International Film Festival this evening, screening as part of the Berlinale Specials Series program.
That marks the second successive year Sony has presented a series at Berlinale, following the gala premiere for Prime Video drama The Narrow Road to the Deep North last year.
Thorne’s series, which is directed by Marc Munden, is somewhat surprisingly the first-ever television adaptation of Golding’s book. It tells the story of a group of young boys who find themselves stranded on a tropical island and attempt to remain civil by organizing themselves, led by Ralph, who is supported by the group’s intellectual, Piggy. However, Jack challenges his leadership and begins to draw other boys away, sending them on a course from hope to tragedy.
Winston Sawyers stars as Ralph, Lox Pratt is Jack and David McKenna plays Piggy. Also starring are Ike Talbut, Thomas Connor, Noah and Cassius Flemyng, Cornelius Brandreth and more.
“Jack Thorne’s contemporary take on this timeless story is, in one word: Powerful,” said Mike Wald, Co-President, Distribution & Networks at SPT. “This first-ever television adaptation of the iconic novel delivers on every level, including its cinematic scope and transportive music, and we are thrilled with the incredible response that we have seen from buyers in every market.”
Lord of the Flies, first published by Faber for what was then an unknown author, has become one of the most popular books on the English schooling curriculum for the last seven decades. Golding won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1983.
Adolescence co-creator Thorne is the writer on the adaptation, with Munden the director and Callum Devrell-Cameron the producer. Series composer is Cristobal Tapia de Veer, with main theme and additional music from Hans Zimmer and Kara Talve. Exec producers are Joel Wilson and Jamie Campbell for Eleven, Jack Thorne for One Shoe, Munden, Nawfal Faizullah for the BBC, and Cailah Scobie and Amanda Duthie for Stan.