''Station Eleven'' is an American

post-apocalyptic Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction is a subgenre of speculative fiction in which the Earth's (or another planet's) civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; ast ...

dystopian fiction Utopian and dystopian fiction are genres of speculative fiction that explore social and political structures. Utopian fiction portrays a setting that agrees with the author's ethos, having various attributes of another reality intended to appeal t ...

miniseries created by Patrick Somerville based on the 2014 novel of the same name by Emily St. John Mandel. The miniseries premiered on

HBO Max HBO Max is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in the United States on May 27, 2020, the service is built around the libraries of HBO, Warner Bros., Cartoon Netw ...

on December 16, 2021, and ran for ten episodes until January 13, 2022. It received critical acclaim and was nominated for seven Primetime Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie for Patel.

Premise

Twenty years after a flu pandemic resulted in the collapse of civilization, a group of survivors who make their living as traveling performers encounter a violent cult led by a man whose past is unknowingly linked to a member of the troupe.

Cast

Main

Mackenzie Davis Mackenzie Rio Davis (born April 1, 1987) is a Canadian actress, producer, and model. She made her feature film debut in '' Smashed'' (2012). In 2013, she appeared in ''Breathe In'' and '' The F Word'' (for which she was nominated for the Canadia ...

as Kirsten Raymonde, a young woman who is now the star actress with the Traveling Symphony ** Matilda Lawler as Young Kirsten, an eight year old stage actress at the onset of the pandemic who was starring in a production of ''

King Lear ''King Lear'' is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare. It is based on the mythological Leir of Britain. King Lear, in preparation for his old age, divides his power and land between two of his daughters. He becomes destitute and insane ...

'' with Arthur Leander *

Himesh Patel Himesh Jitendra Patel (born 13 October 1990) is a British actor, musician, and singer. He is known for portraying Tamwar Masood on the BBC soap opera '' EastEnders'' from 2007 to 2016, for starring in the 2019 musical romantic comedy film '' Y ...

as Jeevan Chaudhary, an audience member the night of the pandemic who takes care of Kirsten *

David Wilmot David Wilmot (January 20, 1814 – March 16, 1868) was an American politician and judge. He served as Representative and a Senator for Pennsylvania and as a judge of the Court of Claims. He is best known for being the prime sponsor and epon ...

as Clark Thompson, Arthur Leander's former best friend who now leads an isolated compound at the Severn City airport *

Nabhaan Rizwan Nabhaan Rizwan (born November 30, 1996) is a British actor known for crime drama '' Informer'', his supporting roles in '' The Accident'' and '' 1917'', and the miniseries ''Station Eleven''. Rizwan is originally from Essex and now lives in London ...

as Frank Chaudhary, Jeevan's brother, a writer who became a recluse after an injury left him disabled * Daniel Zovatto as Tyler Leander, the son of Arthur and Elizabeth, he leads a group of rogue children. **Julian Obradors as young Tyler *Philippine Velge as Alexandra, a younger member of the Traveling Symphony *

Lori Petty Lori Petty (born October 14, 1963) is an American actress, director, and screenwriter. She is noted for her roles in the films ''Point Break'' (1991), ''A League of Their Own'' (1992), '' Free Willy '' (1993), and the title role in '' Tank Girl' ...

as Sarah, the co-founder of the Traveling Symphony

Recurring

Episodes

Production

Development

In February 2015, producer Scott Steindorff acquired the TV and film rights to the novel. On June 25, 2019, the series was ordered by the streaming service

, created by Patrick Somerville with Hiro Murai attached as a director. Both are executive producing alongside Scott Delman, Dylan Russell, Scott Steindorff, Jessica Rhoades,

Jeremy Podeswa Jeremy Podeswa (born 1962) is a Canadian film and television director. He is best known for directing the films '' The Five Senses'' (1999) and ''Fugitive Pieces'' (2007). He has also worked as director on the television shows '' Six Feet Under ...

, and Nate Matteson. The miniseries premiered on December 16, 2021. Podeswa,

Helen Shaver Helen Shaver (born February 24, 1951) is a Canadian actress and film and television director. She has received Emmy and Saturn Award nominations, among other honours. Early life Shaver was born and raised, with five sisters, in St. Thomas, Ont ...

, and Lucy Tcherniak also directed episodes.

Differences from novel

Somerville made several major changes from the original novel's plot, such as creating a more significant relationship between Jeevan and Kirsten. In addition, the Canadian setting of the majority of the novel is replaced with an American setting. Though much of the Year Zero setting in the original novel is St. John-Mandel's native Toronto, Somerville moved the action to his own native Chicago. Ironically, due to the COVID pandemic, shooting was moved from Chicago to Mississauga, a suburb of Toronto.

Casting

In October 2019,

and

were cast to star in the series. Matilda Lawler would be added in November 2019. In January 2020,

Gael García Bernal Gael García Bernal (; born 30 November 1978) is a Mexican actor and producer. He is best known for his performances in the films '' Bad Education'', '' The Motorcycle Diaries'', '' Amores perros'', ''Y tu mamá también'', ''Babel'', '' Coco'', ...

was cast in a recurring role. In February 2020, Danielle Deadwyler joined the cast in a recurring capacity.

and Philippine Velge would join as series leads in March 2020. In April 2021, Daniel Zovatto and

joined the cast in lead roles, while

Andy McQueen Andy McQueen (born, March 2, 1991) is a Canadian actor. He is most noted for his performance in the 2019 film '' Disappearance at Clifton Hill'', for which he received a Canadian Screen Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor at the 8th Canadi ...

David Cross David Cross (born April 4, 1964) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, director, and writer known for his stand-up performances, the HBO sketch comedy series '' Mr. Show'' (1995–1998), and his role as Tobias Fünke in the Fox/Netflix si ...

Enrico Colantoni Enrico Colantoni (born February 14, 1963) is a Canadian actor and director, best known for portraying Elliot DiMauro in the sitcom ''Just Shoot Me!'', Keith Mars on the television series ''Veronica Mars'', Louis Lutz on the short-lived sitcom ''H ...

, Julian Obradors, and

Deborah Cox Deborah Cox (born July 13, 1974) is a Canadian singer, songwriter, actress, and record producer. Born and raised in Toronto, she began performing on television commercials at age 12, and entered various talent shows in her teenage years before ...

joined the cast in recurring roles. Luca Villacis, Prince Amponsah, Dylan Taylor,

Joe Pingue Joe Pingue is a Canadian actor and film maker. Early life Pingue was born and raised in St. Catharines, Ontario. He attended Ridley College for both elementary and high school, and studied theatre at York University. While attending Ridley Col ...

, Maxwell McCabe-Lokos, Ajahnis Charley, Milton Barnes and Kate Moyer joined the cast in recurring capacities in June 2021.

Filming

Filming began in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

in January 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, production moved to Mississauga on February 1, 2021, and concluded on July 9, 2021.

Release

The first three episodes premiered on HBO Max on December 16, 2021.

Home media

The miniseries will be released on 4K

Ultra HD Blu-ray Ultra HD Blu-ray (4K Ultra HD, UHD-BD, or 4K Blu-ray) is a digital optical disc data storage format that is an enhanced variant of Blu-ray. Ultra HD Blu-ray discs are incompatible with existing standard Blu-ray players, though a traditional Bl ...

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...

, and

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

on February 21, 2023, by

Paramount Home Entertainment Paramount Home Entertainment (formerly Paramount Home Media Distribution, and originally Paramount Home Video) is the home video distribution arm of Paramount Pictures, a division of Paramount Global. The division oversees PPC's home entertainme ...

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

reports a 98% approval rating with an average rating of 8.1/10, based on 54 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "''Station Eleven'' rewards patient viewers with an insightful and thematically rich assertion that—even in the post-apocalypse—the show must go on." On the review aggregator

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, the series has a weighted average score of 81 out of 100 based on 27 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".

Accolades

Notes

References

External links

* * {{Emily St. John Mandel 2020s American drama television miniseries 2020s American science fiction television series 2021 American television series debuts 2022 American television series endings English-language television shows HBO Max original programming Post-apocalyptic television series Television shows about influenza outbreaks Television shows based on Canadian novels Television shows filmed in Illinois Television shows filmed in Ontario Television series by Paramount Television Television series set in 2020 Television series set in 2021 Television series set in the 2040s Television series impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic