Netflix’s series adaptation of Australian novel Boy Swallows Universe has unveiled its cast, and first images from the shoot have been released.
Travis Fimmel (Vikings, Warcraft, Raised by Wolves), Simon Baker (The Mentalist, Breath) and Phoebe Tonkin (Babylon, Kid Snow, Westworld) topline an ensemble cast for the eight-part limited series, which is based on Trent Dalton’s book and is now in production in Brisbane, Australia.
Deadline first revealed news of the project in May 2019, and Netflix boarded it earlier this year.
The book, set in the violent working-class suburban fringe of Brisbane in 1983, follows Eli Bell, an articulate 12-year-old boy, and his mute brother Gus. A synopsis for the novel reads: “Eli Bell’s life is complicated. His father is lost, his mother is in jail and his stepdad is a heroin dealer. The most steadfast adult in Eli’s life is Slim — a notorious felon and national record-holder for successful prison escapes — who watches over Eli and August, Eli’s silent genius of an older brother… A story of brotherhood, true love, family, and the most unlikely of friendships, Boy Swallows Universe is the tale of an adolescent boy on the cusp of discovering the man he will be.”
Tonkin will play the mother Frances Bell.
