Thanks entirely to the involvement of disgraced creator Joss Whedon, The Nevers didn’t really stand a chance of succeeding when it hailed from the mind of somebody who’d seen their entire reputation and livelihood torn to shreds after a string of serious allegations dating back decades began emerging from the woodwork.
The conceit was solid and full of potential, though, with a supernatural event in Victorian London imbuing certain people with abilities that could favorably be deemed as superpowers, leading to a battle between good and evil that spills out onto the streets as the light and dark each get to grips with their newfound talents.
A 48 percent Rotten Tomatoes score isn’t ideal, but an 83 percent user rating indicates The Nevers appealed to its target audience, even though there were many who struggled to reconcile their love of the show with the accusations constantly being leveled at its creative mastermind – who’d even departed long before the premiere citing reasons that had nothing to do with the ones everyone believed it to be.
Even then, HBO ended up canceling The Nevers halfway through its intended 12-episode run, with the first six being aired before the entire project was then shifted over to Tubi and shown linearly in February and March of this year. Even at that, it’s already disappeared, and is now only available as a digital purchase.
However, in an unexpected turn of events, The Nevers is officially a Primetime Emmy nominee, having secured a nod for Outstanding Special Visual Effects In A Single Episode. A high concept sci-fi period piece with superhero leanings from an industry exile that only saw half of its episodes aired before the company that footed the bill got rid of it doesn’t sound like a contender, but here we are.