Station Eleven is an American post-apocalyptic dystopian fiction television miniseries created by Patrick Somerville based on the 2014 novel of the same name by Emily St. John Mandel. The miniseries premiered on HBO Max on December 16, 2021, and ran for ten episodes until January 13, 2022.
It received critical acclaim and was nominated for seven Primetime Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie for Himesh Patel.
Premise
Twenty years after a flu pandemic resulted in the collapse of civilization, a group of survivors who make their living as traveling performers encounter a violent cult led by a man whose past is unknowingly linked to a member of the troupe.
Cast
Main
- Mackenzie Davis as Kirsten Raymonde, a young woman who is now the star actress with the Traveling Symphony
- Matilda Lawler as Young Kirsten, an eight year old stage actress at the onset of the pandemic who was starring in a production of King Lear with Arthur Leander
- Himesh Patel as Jeevan Chaudhary, an audience member the night of the pandemic who takes care of Kirsten
- David Wilmot as Clark Thompson, Arthur Leander's former best friend who now leads an isolated compound at the Severn City airport
- Nabhaan Rizwan as Frank Chaudhary, Jeevan's brother, a writer who became a recluse after an injury left him disabled
- Daniel Zovatto as Tyler Leander, the son of Arthur and Elizabeth, he leads a group of rogue children.
- Julian Obradors as young Tyler
- Philippine Velge as Alexandra, a younger member of the Traveling Symphony
- Lori Petty as Sarah, the co-founder of the Traveling Symphony
Recurring
Episodes
Production
Development
In February 2015, producer Scott Steindorff acquired the TV and film rights to the novel. On June 25, 2019, the series was ordered by the streaming service HBO Max, created by Patrick Somerville with Hiro Murai attached as a director. Both are executive producing alongside Scott Delman, Dylan Russell, Scott Steindorff, Jessica Rhoades, Jeremy Podeswa, and Nate Matteson. The miniseries premiered on December 16, 2021. Podeswa, Helen Shaver, and Lucy Tcherniak also directed episodes.
Differences from novel
Somerville made several major changes from the original novel's plot, such as creating a more significant relationship between Jeevan and Kirsten, and giving Tyler the Prophet a less villainous presence and a redemptive arc. In addition, the Canadian setting of the majority of the novel is replaced with an American setting. Though much of the Year Zero setting in the original novel is St. John-Mandel's native Toronto, Somerville moved the action to his own native Chicago. Ironically, due to the COVID pandemic, shooting was moved from Chicago to Mississauga, a city bordering Toronto.
Casting
In October 2019, Mackenzie Davis, Himesh Patel and David Wilmot were cast to star in the series. Matilda Lawler would be added in November 2019. In January 2020, Gael García Bernal was cast in a recurring role. In February 2020, Danielle Deadwyler joined the cast in a recurring capacity. Nabhaan Rizwan and Philippine Velge would join as series leads in March 2020. In April 2021, Daniel Zovatto and Lori Petty joined the cast in lead roles, while Andy McQueen, David Cross, Enrico Colantoni, Julian Obradors, and Deborah Cox joined the cast in recurring roles. Luca Villacis, Prince Amponsah, Dylan Taylor, Joe Pingue, Maxwell McCabe-Lokos, Ajahnis Charley, Milton Barnes and Kate Moyer joined the cast in recurring capacities in June 2021.
Filming
Filming began in Chicago in January 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, production moved to Mississauga on February 1, 2021, and concluded on July 9, 2021.
Release
The first three episodes premiered on HBO Max on December 16, 2021.
Home media
The miniseries was released on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray, and DVD on February 21, 2023, by Paramount Home Entertainment.
Reception
Rotten Tomatoes reports a 98% approval rating with an average rating of 8.1/10, based on 54 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "Station Eleven rewards patient viewers with an insightful and thematically rich assertion that—even in the post-apocalypse—the show must go on." On the review aggregator Metacritic, the series has a weighted average score of 81 out of 100 based on 27 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".
Jen Chaney, in Vulture, writes of the show's theme: "Text from Miranda’s comic, which was passed on to young Kirsten in the early days of the pandemic, echoes throughout the episodes as though its verses are biblical. 'I remember damage' is a line uttered more than once; 'I don’t want to live the wrong life and then die' is another... a reflection of how fiction and art can feel as though they’ve been tailored specifically to the present and the contours of one’s own private heart. ... Music, theater, and literature can provide both an escape from our circumstances and a way of processing them that becomes forever intertwined with those circumstances."
Accolades
References
External links
- Official website
- Station Eleven at IMDb
