STATION ELEVEN on HBO Max is a new limited sci-fi series with 10 episodes and a stellar cast. It’s based on the bestselling novel by Emily St. John Mandel. However, do expect a few changes in this adaption. Read our Station Eleven series review here!

STATION ELEVEN is a new HBO Max limited series based on Emily St. John Mandel’s novel. The genre is sci-fi but this is mostly due to it taking place (partly) a few decades into the future. In other words, don’t expect any fictional technology.

Station Eleven on HBO Max is a post-apocalyptic saga that spans multiple timelines. The series tells the stories of survivors of a devastating flu while they attempt to rebuild and reimagine the world. The casting of this HBO Max series is quite fantastic and should be enough to draw in the viewers.

Continue reading our Station Eleven series review below.

A slow – at times confusing – but intriguing beginning

We’ve watched the first three episodes for this review. If you’re familiar with the novel by Emily St. John Mandel, this HBO Max original might be easier to follow. I have not read the novel and found that it requires quite a lot of its viewers.

Mostly due to the many characters and timelines that intersect in different ways. Each episode does tend to focus on one character primarily, which helps. But it also means there are characters you don’t see for quite some time.

Personally, I am hoping for a Watchmen development. Far too many gave up on the 2019 HBO Watchmen series starring Regina King. I was close to doing the same, but stuck with it and was rewarded in the most amazing ways.

I’m hoping the same will be the case with Station Eleven. However, I expect more of a The Stand result.

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Our review of the limited series The Stand based on Stephen King’s story >

Please note, if you do know the Emily St. John Mandel novel, be ready to expect a few changes in this adaption. Some minor and others quite a bit bigger. For the record, I have read up on the book, which is why I’ve noticed these rather distinct differences.

Station Eleven – HBO Series Review

Don’t expect the stars in every episode

As mentioned earlier, each episode does tend to focus on one character in particular. That’s why you shouldn’t expect to see the stars of this miniseries in every episode. In fact, while Mackenzie Davis is featured in quite a lot of the PR material, she isn’t in episode 1 for more than maybe a minute.

She does feature heavily in episode 2, however, and then isn’t really in episode three. No matter how little she might appear in these opening episodes, she still manages to make a solid impression.

Then again, I recognize that I’m biased since I’m a longtime fan. From Halt and Catch Fire to Black Mirror to Terminator: Dark Fate. Mackenzie Davis always delivers in my book, and Station Eleven, where she plays “Kirsten”, is no exception.

The young version of Kirsten is portrayed by the very talented Matilda Lawler, who had her screen debut in The Block Island Sound (2020).

Three of the other key characters are also managed by very capable actors. Jeevan is portrayed by the very charming Himesh Patel (Yesterday, Tenet). Gael García Bernal (Old) is the actor Arthur, who dies on stage in the opening scene, and David Wilmot (The Alienist) is Clark.

Start watching Station Eleven on HBO Max now!

Patrick Somerville is the creator of this HBO Max miniseries, which is (as mentioned several times already) based on the novel by Emily St. John Mandel. Previously, Patrick Somerville has been the creator of the Made for Love and Maniac series.

The directors of the 10 episodes in the limited series are Hiro Murai (Atlanta and many brilliant music videos), Jeremy Podeswa (Game of Thrones, The Handmaid’s Tale), Helen Shaver (Lovecraft Country, Orphan Black), and Lucy Tcherniak (The End of the F***ing World).

Finally, I have to highlight Danielle Deadwyler as Miranda Carroll who writes the graphic novel “Station Eleven” featured in the story. We also saw Danielle Deadwyler being absolutely amazing in the thriller The Devil to Pay and she’s great in episode 3 of this miniseries.

DO CHECK OUT

Our review of the 2019 movie The Devil to Pay (aka Reckoning) starring Danielle Deadwyler here >

If you don’t know the novel, then check out the trailer and give this HBO Max series a chance for the great cast. The story is fascinating, but it does also take some time to really get into. I hope it will get better as we get further along, so it will all pay off in the end. In any case, I will be entertained in the first place.

Station Eleven premieres on HBO Max with the first three episodes on December 16, 2021, with two episodes each debuting on December 23, December 30, and January 6. The finale will be on January 13, 2021.

Details

Creator: Patrick Somerville
Stars: Mackenzie Davis, Himesh Patel, Daniel Zovatto, Joe Pingue, Danielle Deadwyler, Matilda Lawler

Plot

A Hollywood star, his would-be savior, and a nomadic group of actors roaming the scattered outposts of the Great Lakes region, risking everything for art and humanity. One snowy night a famous Hollywood actor slumps over and dies onstage during a production of King Lear. Hours later, the world as we know it begins to dissolve. Moving back and forth in time-from the actor’s early days as a film star to fifteen years in the future, when a theater troupe known as the Traveling Symphony roams the wasteland of what remains this suspenseful, elegiac, spellbinding novel charts the strange twists of fate that connect five people: the actor, the man who tried to save him, the actor’s first wife, his oldest friend, and a young actress with the Traveling Symphony, caught in the crosshairs of a dangerous self-proclaimed prophet.

I write reviews and recaps on Heaven of Horror. And yes, it does happen that I find myself screaming, when watching a good horror movie. I love psychological horror, survival horror and kick-ass women. Also, I have a huge soft spot for a good horror-comedy. Oh yeah, and I absolutely HATE when animals are harmed in movies, so I will immediately think less of any movie, where animals are harmed for entertainment (even if the animals are just really good actors). Fortunately, horror doesn't use this nearly as much as comedy. And people assume horror lovers are the messed up ones. Go figure!
Karina "ScreamQueen" Adelgaard
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