The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself is a British fantasy drama television series created by Joe Barton, based on the novel Half Bad by Sally Green.[1][2] The series tells the story of Nathan Byrne, a young man discovering his true identity as the illegitimate son of the dangerous witch Marcus Edge.[3]Netflix released the series 28 October 2022, but canceled future episodes despite positive reviews.[4]
Premise
Nathan Byrne has been quietly monitored by the Council of Fairborn Witches for the first 17 years of his life. The Council fears the illegitimate son of the "World's Most Dangerous Blood Witch" will turn out like his father. As the conflict between the Blood Witches and the Fairborn Witches escalates, Nathan finds himself the target of a modern-day witch hunt. He begins a life-or-death quest, building alliances with fellow witches Annalise and Gabriel, while learning about himself along the way.
Nathan and Annalise follow Gabriel through the French countryside, where they learn startling new information about Blood Witches from the Ozanne clan.
6
Episode 6
Rachna Suri
Helen Kingston
28 October 2022 (2022-10-28)
Nathan tries to get Ceelia to see the truth about Soul and later experiences a chilling vision. Jessica gets promoted and embraces her ruthless streak.
Soul and Jessica head to Wolfhagen with Annalise and Ceelia in pursuit. Gabriel tries to convince Nathan to see Mercury instead.
8
Episode 8
Debs Paterson
Joe Barton
28 October 2022 (2022-10-28)
Soul goes on a rampage at Wolfhagen, eager to finally hunt down Marcus. Nathan, Annalise and Gabriel race to stop him before it's too late.
Development
Andy Serkis, executive producer of The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself
A feature-film adaptation based on the first book in the popular British fantasy series was under development at Fox 2000 on 5 April 2013. It was reported that Karen Rosenfelt, who had produced The Twilight Saga, Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, and The Book Thief, would be in charge of production, but there were no further updates published by the studio .[5][6]
On 13 December 2020, Netflix announced the production of a young adult television series based on the trilogy.[7][2] The adaptation would be written and executive produced by Joe Barton, who would also act as showrunner. Joining Barton as executive producers would be Andy Serkis, Jonathan Cavendish and Will Tennant, with Serkis' own production company, Imaginarium Productions co-producing the series.[7][2][8] The first season was reported to be eight one-hour episodes.[7][2][9][10]
Netflix tweeted the series title, The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself, on 25 August 2022.[9] On 21 September 2022, Colm McCarthy, Debs Paterson, and Rachna Suri were announced as directors of the series, with McCarthy also executive producing, Phil Robertson of Imaginarium as executive producer, and Adrian Sturges and Steve Clark-Hall as producers.[6][11]
Casting
Róisín Murphy joins the main cast as Mercury, making this series her acting debut
Jay Lycurgo, Nadia Parkes, Emilien Vekemans, Isobel Jesper Jones and Karen Connell were announced as leads on 18 March 2022.[10] Paul Ready, David Gyasi, Kerry Fox, Fehinti Balogun, Misia Butler, Liz White and Róisín Murphy also joined the main cast.[12][6][13][14]
Filming
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Principal photography of the series began on 5 July 2021, with the majority of shooting taking place in London, UK.[15] David Higgs was announced as the series' cinematographer, and Elen Lewis and Tom Chapman as editors.[11][16][17]
Music
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Rosa Walton and Jenny Hollingworth of Let's Eat Grandma composed an original soundtrack for the first season.[18] The duo shared in an interview that after reading the initial script they felt it would be compatible with their musical style. They cited various folklore and fairy tales as inspirations, in addition to the soundtracks from Under the Skin and Utopia.[19]
Promotion
Netflix released a series trailer 13 October 2022,[20] and the series premiered on 28 October 2022.[21]
Reception
The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself received positive reviews from critics and audiences alike.[22] On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 93% of 14 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8/10. The website's consensus reads: "A fantasy series full of flair along with thoughtful insight, The Bastard Son & the Devil Himself is an exemplary YA adaptation."[23]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 72 out of 100, based on 4 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[24]
David Opie of Digital Spy rated the series 5/5 stars, praised the writing, visuals, and cast performances, especially from Jay Lycurgo and Emilien Vekemans.[25] Jack Seale of The Guardian, gave the series 4/5 stars, praising its writing and visual effects, calling the latter "impressive" and "confusingly beautiful".[26] Jack Taylor of The Telegraph, also rated the series 4/5 stars, similarly praised its writing, visuals and sounds, highlighting the "economic storytelling that made Giri/Haji such a captivating success," though criticizing the action scenes, calling them "dismally loud and boring".[27] Sam Moore of Radio Times gave the series 3/5 stars, criticizing its tone, calling it "uneven" although praising the "snappy dialogue" and "stellar performances" of the casts.[28] Joel Keller of Decider similarly criticized the tone, noting elements of "a typical teen-drama" while praising performances of the cast, particularly those of Nadia Parkes.[29]
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