Netflix has had a lot of success with comic book adaptations, and their latest, Warrior Nun looks to continue that hot streak. As you would expect from the title, the show centers upon a nun kicking ass as she fights in a war between heaven and hell. The first trailer just dropped and as you can see above, it promises a world of high-octane action, super-powered combat and weird religious imagery.
At the core of the story is Alba Baptista’s Ava, a non-believer who wakes from death to find a holy artefact embedded in her back. This grants her superpowers and binds her to the mysterious Order of the Cruciform Sword. Judging from what we see in the trailer, much of the action will show Ava grappling with her new powers and learning her place in this Biblical war. She’s set to be joined by a group of young and sexy Warrior Nuns, too, some of them clearly resenting the innate divine advantages Ava has over them.
This take on Ben Dunn’s comic Warrior Nun Areala looks like it’s going to skew quite YA, with the premise of a hero with special talents drawn into a magical world familiar from Harry Potter-like tales. Of course, with characters named Shotgun Mary and the trailer dropping a giant F-bomb, it seems Warrior Nun is at pains to define itself as dynamic and rebellious.
That punky tone will certainly make for an interesting contrast with the plot. At least in the original comics, the Catholic Church were the good guys in the story. Now, I can’t remember the last time I saw the Catholic Church portrayed positively on screen, as when being Catholic isn’t a tortured visual metaphor for guilt, they’re being the bad guys in movies about child abuse. Presumably, Warrior Nun will tackle this at some point, especially as its lead character begins the story as an atheist.
Look for the full ten-episode first season to drop on Netflix on July 2nd.