Putting fantasy elements into a more modern setting can be pretty tough to pull off, but when it’s done right, the effect can be stunning. It certainly looks like the latter is the case in the upcoming fantasy murder mystery series Carnival Row, which has unveiled a killer (no pun intended) new trailer.
The series takes place in a Victorian world where humans and magical creatures such as fairies live together, but not on equal footing as the humans are the ruling class. Orlando Bloom portrays a human detective who is tasked with investigating a string of vicious murders; a job that is complicated by his forbidden romance with a fairy (Cara Delevingne).
In addition to fairies, it looks from the trailer like we’ll also be getting some satyrs and maybe even a werewolf — in any case, there appears to be a whole bunch of magical goings-on in this Victorian noir world, and we’re here for it. We also appreciate how this is an original production — not a reboot, not a reimagining, not an adaptation of a book or comic or video game — since that is so rare in the world of genre fiction today. Amazon, which will be streaming the series on its Prime Video service, also seems to have faith in the concept as they’ve already approved it for a second season before a single episode of the first has even aired.
Carnival Row — season one, that is — premieres on Amazon Prime this Labor Day weekend.
