Overview
The late, great Jim Henson gave the world many things, including the Muppets in general, Sesame Street's loveable puppet characters, Kermit the Frog's memorable voice and all things Fraggle Rock. He also turned filmmaker three times, creating three of the great puppet movies of the 1980s — The Great Muppet Caper, The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth.
While Labyrinth still earns plenty of attention for plenty of reasons — David Bowie being one of them, obviously — The Dark Crystal also deservedly holds a place in fans' hearts. Co-directed with his Muppets colleague Frank Oz, the fantasy-adventure flick follows a Gelfling called Jen, who is trying to bring back balance to his own world by finding and returning a broken shard from a powerful gem. Henson and Oz also worked their puppeting magic on the movie, of course.
Over the years, a sequel has been mooted more than once, including one with Australian Daybreakers, Predestination and Winchester filmmakers Michael and Peter Spierig at the helm. No follow-ups have ever come to fruition, but Netflix is doing the next best thing: reviving the beloved film for a ten-part series.
Releasing at the end of August, The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance is a prequel to the movie — and yes, it uses puppets for its protagonists, not CGI, as both the first teaser and the new full-length trailer both show in stunning detail. Set years before the events of the film, it steps into the world of Thra, which is home to The Crystal of Truth. Both are under threat by the evil Skeksis, with illness thwarting the land as a result. It's up to three Gelfings to reveal the truth, stage a rebellion and fight for the planet.
Directed by Louis Leterrier (The Incredible Hulk, Now You See Me), Age of Resistance also boasts quite the cast, with Rocketman's Taron Egerton, Glass' Anya Taylor-Joy and Game of Thrones' Nathalie Emmanuel voicing three elf-like Gelflings. They're joined by a hefty list of names, so prepare to hear the vocal tones of Helena Bonham Carter, Natalie Dormer, Lena Headey, Eddie Izzard, Theo James, Toby Jones, Shazad Latif, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Mark Strong, Alicia Vikander, Mark Hamill, Jason Isaacs, Keegan-Michael Key, Simon Pegg, Andy Samberg, Benedict Wong, Awkwafina and Sigourney Weaver as well.
Check out the new trailer below:
The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance hits Netflix on August 30.
Image: Kevin Baker.