By When Netflix and Jim Henson Studios announced they were making 10-episode a prequel to The Dark Crystal I was hyped. When they said they’d be doing it with traditional puppet techniques I was extra hyped. When they noted they’d also be using state-of-the-art technology too I got a bit less hyped. The puppetry is part of what makes The Dark Crystal work, and pulling in a bunch of CGI would just make it… not the same. Call it nostalgia, but it’s true.
Thankfully, the streaming service seems to have struck some sort of unholy balance between puppeteering and CGI as these first images of the show, titled The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, look pretty damn amazing. They’re all of gelflings so we can’t quite tell yet just how horrifying the skeksis will be, but I’m sure they’ll haunt my nightmares for all eternity just like the originals.
These three gelflings are the main characters of the story: Rian, Deet, and Brea. They’ll be going on an adventure when they discover that the skeksis power is coming from a terrible source and that the Crystal of Truth is damaged. Of course, as a prequel, the story won’t end with the world being saved but evidently they’ll ignite some sort of revolution.
The cast Netflix has pulled in is quite notable as well, with Taron Egerton headlining in the role of Rian. Anya Taylor-Joy (The Witch), and Nathalie Emmanuel (Game of Throwns) join him as Deet and Brea, respectively. There are a ton more names you’ll recognize below as pretty much the entire cast is someone famous. I’ll just point out the fact that Mark Hamill is in it because Mark Hamill doing voice acting is one of the greatest things that exists. You can check out below for a much longer list of cast members and many of the puppeteers will be voicing their own characters.
It’s kind of hard not to be super excited about this one, even with the Netflix fatigue I’m currently feeling. At the moment I couch a ton of shows to be watched never later but I’m thinking this is a day one for me.
It’s Netflix so we won’t know a release date until a month before because they’re weird.
Gelfling characters are voiced by:
Rian – Taron Egerton (Kingsman)
Brea – Anya Taylor Joy (The Witch)
Deet – Nathalie Emmanuel (Game of Thrones)
Caitriona Balfe (Outlander)
Helena Bonham-Carter (The King’s Speech)
Harris Dickinson (forthcoming Maleficent 2)
Natalie Dormer (Game of Thrones)
Eddie Izzard (Ocean’s Thirteen)
Theo James (The Divergent Series)
Toby Jones (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy)
Shazad Latif (Star Trek: Discovery)
Gugu Mbatha-Raw (The Cloverfield Paradox)
Mark Strong (Kingsman)
Alicia Vikander (Tomb Raider)
The Skeksis & Mystics are voiced by:
Harvey Fierstein (Torch Song)
Mark Hamill (Knightfall, Star Wars)
Ralph Ineson (Game of Thrones)
Jason Isaacs (The OA)
Keegan-Michael Key (Key and Peele)
Ólafur Darri Ólafsson (True Detective)
Simon Pegg (Mission Impossible)
Andy Samberg (Brooklyn Nine Nine)
Aughra will be voiced by:
Aughra – Donna Kimball (The Happytime Murders)
