‘The Nevers’ on HBO Is Like ‘Bridgerton’ Meets ‘X-Men’—And the First Trailer Is Here

Fans of Penny Dreadful, Doctor Who, and His Dark Materials, get ready for your next TV obsession: The Nevers is basically Bridgerton with sci-fi elements, and we could not be more excited.

Set in Victorian London, the series takes place after some supernatural event left a portion of the population with strange new abilities. Those affected, called The Touched, are feared by society. Some keep their differences secret, while others put them on display. X-Men with corsets and accents? Sign me the eff up.

Laura Donnelly (Outlander) stars as Amalia True, whose special ability is seeing glimpses of the future (a power that is, we have to point out, So Raven). Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Donnelly said the friendship between her character and Penance Adair (Ann Skelly) is at the core of the series. “[The show] was pitched to me…like a female Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and I just loved that,” she said.

As for doing superhero-style fights in Victorian costumes, Donnelly revealed that, “surprisingly, the corset is not the problem. The problem is the long skirt. The corset I’ve discovered is brilliant for fighting because it keeps your posture really good.” Reminds us of those wild fight sequences in Enola Holmes!

Donnelly and Skelly also responded to the tricky issue of this series having been created by Joss Whedon, who directed the first two Avengers movies and created Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Skelly said she “loved working with Joss” and Donnelly agreed that it was “the best…experience that I’ve had on any set.” Whedon left the series for personal reasons last November after working on the first six episodes; the remainder were overseen by Philippa Goslett. Said Donnelly, “[Whedon] left for personal reasons, and you can’t argue with that. People have to look after themselves, they gotta look after their families, they gotta look after their mental well-being.” 

In recent months Whedon has been accused of racist on-set behavior by Justice League star Ray Fisher (Whedon oversaw extensive reshoots for the 2017 cut of the movie), and other toxic behavior by Charisma Carpenter, star of Buffy and its spin-off, Angel. 

The Nevers premieres April 11 on HBO.