In March 2019, it was announced that the series was renewed for a 10-episode second season that was released on June 18, 2020.[2][3] In November 2020, the series was canceled after two seasons.[4]
Premise
The Order follows college student Jack Morton (Jake Manley) as he joins the Hermetic Order of the Blue Rose, a secret society that teaches and practices magic. As Jack goes deeper into the organization's history, he uncovers dark family secrets and an underground battle between werewolves and the magical dark arts.[5]
Cast and characters
Main
Jake Manley as Jack Morton, a freshman college student at Belgrave University and a new recruit who joins both the Hermetic Order of the Blue Rose and the Knights of Saint Christopher
Sarah Grey as Alyssa Drake, a college student and university tour guide and a medicum of the Hermetic Order of the Blue Rose
Matt Frewer as Pete "Pops" Morton (season 1), Jack's grandfather who is obsessed with taking down Edward Coventry
Max Martini as Edward Coventry (season 1), Jack's estranged father and the grand magus of the Hermetic Order of the Blue Rose
Louriza Tronco as Gabrielle Dupres (season 2, recurring season 1), an acolyte in the Hermetic Order of the Blue Rose
Recurring
Sam Trammell as Eric Clarke (season 1, guest season 2), an Ethics professor at Belgrave University
Adam DiMarco as Randall Carpio, one of the resident advisors at Belgrave University and a member of the Knights of Saint Christopher
Katharine Isabelle as Vera Stone, the chancellor at Belgrave University and, initially, a temple magus who later becomes grand magus of the Hermetic Order of the Blue Rose[6]
Aaron Hale as Brandon Caruthers, an acolyte in the Order
Jedidiah Goodacre as Kyle (season 1, guest season 2), a Magistratus of the Order and Brandon's mentor
Sean Depner as Jonas, a Magistratus of the Order and Gabrielle's mentor
Devery Jacobs as Lilith Bathory, a student at Belgrave University and a member of the Knights of Saint Christopher
Thomas Elms as Hamish Duke, a teaching assistant at Belgrave University and a member of the Knights of Saint Christopher
Kayla Heller as Selena Durov, a Magistratus and one of the Order's most promising members
Christian Michael Cooper as Maddox Coventry, Edward Coventry's son
Françoise Yip as Elizabeth Kepler, member of the Order and Gnostic Council
Jocelyn Hudon as Ruby Speers, a member of the Order and assistant to Dr. Hemmings.
Vera Stone, the chancellor of Belgrave University, is arguing with a woman about the admission of Jack Morton into the university and its secret society, the Hermetic Order of the Blue Rose. She magically changes his letter of rejection to one of acceptance. While leaving for the university, he discusses with his grandfather Pete Morton how his mother Chloe Morton is dead because of his father Edward. He meets his roommate Clayton Turner. He sees a blue rose in the hands of a neighbour Weston Miller, when he asks about it they get into a fight stopped by Alyssa Drake, the university tour guide. Next day Weston is mysteriously killed. Jack is approached by Detective Hayashi and Vera, who question him. After they leave, he finds a blue rose and a letter on his bed. Upon reaching the location mentioned in the letter, he meets six other Neophytes (pledges) including Amir, Drea and Todd. Two masked people arrive and explain they have to find a coin based upon a clue within 24 hours and only three of them will be selected. Jack identifies one of them as Alyssa, she later denies it but secretly helps her by giving hints. Next day Jack attends his ethics class with professor Eric Clarke. Jack finds the coin in a hut and proceeds to next round, while Todd is rejected and made to forget about all of it. Amir also proceeds further. Later Jack and Amir find Drea injured with wounds on her neck, and she dies after they find her. Jack follows another Order member Kyle into a house where he finds Vera using necromancy on Drea to identify her killer. Jack tells this to Pete, who is thrilled. Jack magically receives a locket for protection, and a fake task by Kyle to dig his mother's grave which he plans to use to blackmail Jack. A large wolf-like creature attacks them at the cemetery but doesn't harm Jack and leaves.
2
2
"Hell Week, Part 2"
David Von Ancken
Shelley Eriksen
March 7, 2019 (2019-03-07)
Jack escapes and finds Alyssa and Kyle in their masks. Kyle orders Alyssa to use the powder on him, which she does, but next day reveals she used a fake one. Jack discusses the events with Pete, who infers that the creature is a werewolf. Alyssa is summoned by Vera and tells her to leave the situation to experienced practitioners. Jack visits the jungle where he finds the beast and follows him to the campus but loses him. He warns Amir to be careful. Next day Amir is found dead. Jack discusses the situation with Randall, a resident advisor, and they decide to hunt the werewolf. Jack follows Gabrielle, another neophyte, and discovers Alyssa is also doing the same. They team up and find a mud monster attack Gabrielle. They try to fight it but get overpowered; a woman's whisper is heard and it leaves. Vera meets with Kyle and other magistrates of the Order, and orders them to find information about the werewolf. Later she meets with Margaret Cair, the woman who disproved of Jack's admission to Belgrave. Alyssa deduces that the mud monster is a golem, which is a being made from mud, sand or metal controlled by a magic user. Jack theorizes that Gregory Cair, another neophyte must be using the golem to get in the Order. When Jack gets back to his room, he finds dust all over Clay's things and infers that Clay is the golem. Clay tries to kill Jack but he deactivates him. During the pledging ceremony, Jack reveals his findings. The grand magus reanimates Clay's head, which reveals it was Margaret who created him to get her son Gregory into the order. They both are taken away, while Jack gets pledged along with Gabrielle and Brandon. Everyone else removes their masks, and Jack identifies tha grand magus as his father Edward, who doesn't remember him. Pete is thrilled at this finding and plans revenge on Edward for driving Chloe to suicide. Meanwhile Edward makes Clay kill Margaret. Next day, Jack follows the werewolf's footprints in the jungle, where he's chased by one and he runs into an abandoned building. He locks himself into the basement where a furry creature from a box attacks and engulfs him.
Randall along with Hamish and Lilith, members of Knights of Saint Christopher, find a naked and unconscious Jack, and explain him that they are werewolves, and the thing that engulfed him was Silverback, making him a werewolf too. Everytime someone uses magic, the werewolves hear a ringing, and Silverback attempts to come out. Vera casts a Respondeo incantation making everyone's memory (except the order members') change about the death of the students. Jack is tutored by Alyssa, but before she could cast a spell, he escapes in fear of transforming. Randall tells Jack that Lilith and Hamish will kill him if he doesn't swear to the Knights. Edward gives Alyssa, Kyle and two others a task - recovering what an obsidian block is hiding. Gabrielle learns a spell from his tutor Jonas, that can trick people into believing certain things. The Acolytes use the spell to buy things and handing over school assignments, without paying any price. Jack uses the spell on Pete, when he pressurizes Jack into finding evidence against Edward and the Order. He observes that people get hurt after their incantation, as every magic has a cost. Alyssa solves the task, and the block reveals pages from an old magic book. Gabrielle learns of another spell by tricking Jonas, to escape from Professor Benson's test. Jack learns that this spell could kill the professor, and goes to warn her. At her house, he hears ringing and transforms into a werewolf again. He wakes up in the forest next to dead body of Professor Clarke, which he covers with mud thinking he is the murderer.
Alyssa resigns as Jack's tutor to assist Edward who makes her his protegè. He tells her the book was The Vade Maecum Infernal, the most powerful incantation ever made, and the book has been divided into four pieces and hidden. He brings in the body of Sir Richard De Payne, who is a carrier of a piece. Alyssa drinks Somnus Adveniat, a potion to go into his subconscious, and finds the second piece. Meanwhile Jack finds out that Clarke was magically being controlled to kill Benson, when he transformed and killed him. Alyssa tells him that magic finds a new path when blocked, but gets weaker, so Benson only got into a car accident and didn't die. Jack and Alyssa kiss. He proposes an alliance to the Knights, they give it a trial. They train him and he gets some control over his transformations. He finds out Brandon and Gabrielle again performed a spell to never get English lessons. Several people are again magically controlled to kill Benson, but the Knights stop them and the magic eventually dies. Jack tells Vera he killed Clarke, but she doesn't punish him. He swears loyalty to the Knights.
During a meeting of the elders of the Order, Edward tells the others about his plan to use the Vade Maecum Infernal, and he still has two pieces left. Renée, an ex-member who was kicked out of the Order along with her sister, crashes and tells Edward that she has cancer, and that she can give her the Necrophone, a device that can be used to talk to dead, to help him recover the remaining pieces, in exchange for the Elemental transference, a spell that can transfer her cancer to five willing sacrifices. He agrees and order Vera to perform the spell. Alyssa tells about this to Jack, which causes a discussion among the Knights on how to stop them. Jack tries to sabotage the preparations but they still perform the spell. A regenerated Renée gives the device to Alyssa and Jack, who later sleep together. Hamish and Lilith visit the sacrifices, who get terminally ill, and it is revealed that they were already dying before the spell. To complete the spell successfully, the sacrifices should die because of the cancer, but the werewolves kill them instead, and hence the cancer returns back to Renée.
6
6
"Homecoming, Part 2"
Leslie Hope
Penny E. Gummerson
March 7, 2019 (2019-03-07)
Renée's sister finds her dead, and calls Jack and Alyssa to give the Necrophone back; they run in a stolen car. She kills various people and uses necromancy to kidnap Alyssa, asking for the device in return from Jack. He arrives and gives it to her. She uses it to contact her sister, who asks them to kill them all, and that Jack is a werewolf. Jack transforms and saves Alyssa (who gets unconscious), while stealing the device back, and takes her to his house. Meanwhile, Kyle finds the bodies of Jonas and the sacrifices and deduces it to be the work of werewolves. He orders Gabrielle and Brandon to find the wolf using Oculus Veritatis, a potion that allows them to see a person in their true self. Kyle finds and stabs Hamish with a magical knife, but he escapes. Randall and Lilith repair the wound using a book in their basement. To stop the Order from hunting them further, they release a wolf hide on Kyle, transforming him, and Gabrielle kills him. At his house, Jack and Pete use the necrophone to talk to his mother Chloe, who says she's not a peace because she's not with Edward. In anger, Pete destroys the device.
7
7
"Undeclared, Part 1"
Rachel Leiterman
Jennica Harper
March 7, 2019 (2019-03-07)
Alyssa gets angry at Jack and leaves. Pete asks Jack to leave Alyssa and the order. She lies to Vera and Edward about Jack and was asked to bring the destroyed Necrophone to them. Vera is included in the Order council. She expresses concern over the pursuit of The Vade Maecum by Edward, for which they both use the truth serum, where Edward reveals that he intents to use the book for betterment of humanity and Vera gives him the third piece; it is later revealed that he lied. Meanwhile Gabrielle uses a magical artifact that burns one's soul when lied upon, to find out about other werewolves, but is stopped by Vera. Randall gets away with a girl named Ruby in the bar but gets locked up in an experimental facility where Dr Bremmings plans to create more werewolves from him.
8
8
"Undeclared, Part 2"
Rachel Leiterman
Rachel Langer
March 7, 2019 (2019-03-07)
Edward's son Maddox accidentally releases a man named Jurgen Sawyer from the pieces of the Vade Maecum, who threatens to kill him; Edward confronts him. Jurgen tells him that he needs to sacrifice his son to obtain the full power of the incantation. Edward kills him. Randall allows Dr Bremmings to test on him; he puts a sigil that increases his anger inside his neck and makes him kill others and Ruby, who turned out to be his assistant. Jack brings Alyssa to the Knights' house and helps them find Randall with magic. She reveals that Lilith used to be in the Order, but was kicked out and her memory removed. They save Randall, who kills Bremmings. When in a fit of rage he tries to kill his friends, Jack reveals that Edward is his father, and Alyssa removes the sigil from his neck. Jack drops Alyssa home and wants to stay the night, but she asks him not to as they are on opposite sides. As he leaves, he sees Edward taking Alyssa with him in his car.
On April 17, 2018, it was announced that Netflix had given the production series order for a first season consisting of ten episodes. The series was created by Dennis Heaton who will also act as writer and executive producer. Additional executive producers are set to include Shelley Eriksen (head writer), Chad Oakes, Mike Frislev and David Von Ancken. Production companies involved with the series include Nomadic Pictures Entertainment.[5][7][8][9] On March 28, 2019, it was announced that the series was renewed for a second season of 10 episodes.[2] On November 14, 2020, Netflix canceled the series after two seasons.[4]
Production for the first season began on April 18, 2018, in Vancouver, British Columbia, and concluded on July 20.[10] Filming for the second season commenced on August 6, 2019, and ended on November 7, 2019.[11]
The fictional Belgrave University was portrayed by various buildings of the University of British Columbia Vancouver Campus. The aerial shots of campus, however, are of Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. The Blade and Chalice bar was set in the UBC Old Auditorium building. The abandoned building housing The Order is the Riverview Hospital in Coquitlam.[12]
Release
On February 21, 2019, the official trailer for the series was released. The first season was released on Netflix on March 7, 2019.[13] On June 15, 2020, the official trailer for the second season was released.[14] The second season was released on the streaming platform on June 18, 2020.[3]
Reception
Critical response
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 100% approval rating for the first season with an average rating of 7.5/10, based on 6 reviews.[15] On Rotten Tomatoes, the second season has a 100% approval rating with an average rating of 7.68/10, based on 5 reviews.[16]