Orlando Bloom returns to the world of dark fantasy in Carnival Row, an eight-episode series premiering on Amazon Prime this August. Amazon Studios dropped two trailers at Comic-Con International: San Diego (SDCC), giving fans a taste of the edgy show, which follows the politics and passions between a group of fairies, fauns, trolls and centaurs that flee their war-torn homeland for Victorian England to live beside the humans who previously invaded their homeland.
The two trailers are told from different perspectives: one helmed by Bloom, who plays a human detective named Rycroft “Philo” Philostrate; the other starring Cara Delevingne, who plays a refugee faerie named Vignette Stonemoss.
In the show, the two rekindle a dangerous love affair in an increasingly intolerant society. It touches on modern social issues — such as immigration and racism — in a post-industrial Victorian age.
“It was a great gift of opportunity because it was so timely and spoke to a lot of issues,” Bloom said at the Carnival Row press conference at SDCC. He explained that the show mirrors current politics, but the characters also have their own world and their own history that allows them to recreate the migrant crisis in a clever way with a “subtle, weaving, intimate fabric.”
This is Bloom’s first time on a TV set, but he described the production as “so expansive and big, it felt like you were on a movie set.”
“When I was on the set of The Lord of the Rings, the bar was set so high,” Bloom said, referencing his role as Legolas in the early ‘00s trilogy. “I was overjoyed to walk into the Carnival Row set. The detail, it was like nothing I’ve ever seen before … I felt I hadn’t seen this world before, I’ve been amazed at the detail and the richness of the characters.”
The show premieres on Aug. 30 and also stars David Gyasi, Karla Crome, Indira Varma, Tamzin Merchant, Simon McBurney, Andrew Gower, and Jamie Harris.
Check out the two trailers below.
Photos: Amazon Studios, Jacqueline Cucco
