The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance

"Age of Resistance" redirects here. For the era of the Star Wars timeline, see Star Wars sequel trilogy.

The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance
Genre	Fantasy Adventure
Developed by	Jeffrey Addiss Will Matthews
Directed by	Louis Leterrier
Voices of	Taron Egerton Anya Taylor-Joy Nathalie Emmanuel Simon Pegg Mark Hamill Jason Isaacs Donna Kimball Victor Yerrid Caitriona Balfe Gugu Mbatha-Raw Andy Samberg Helena Bonham Carter
Narrated by	Sigourney Weaver
Composer(s)	Daniel Pemberton Samuel Sim
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	10 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Louis Leterrier Jeffrey Addiss Javier Grillo-Marxuach Lisa Henson Will Matthews Halle Stanford
Producer(s)	Ritamarie Peruggi
Running time	46–61 minutes
Production company(s)	The Jim Henson Company Netflix
Distributor	Netflix
Release
Original network	Netflix
Audio format	Dolby Digital 5.1
Original release	August 30, 2019 (2019-08-30) – present (present)
External links
[{{#property:P856}} Website]

The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance is an American dark fantasy/adventure web television series produced by Netflix and The Jim Henson Company. The series is a prequel to the 1982 Jim Henson film The Dark Crystal that explores the world of Thra created for the original film. It premiered its first season on August 30, 2019.

Synopsis

The Gelfling race wakes up to the fact that their customarily worshiped overlords, the Skeksis, are evil exploitative taxing essence suckers who are destroying their world. On the planet Thra, three Gelflings — Rian, Brea and Deet — inspire a rebellion against the Skeksis when they discover a horrifying secret behind their power that threatens all of Thra.

Cast

Main article: Characters and races of The Dark Crystal

Main voice cast

• Taron Egerton as Rian: A Gelfling crystal castle guard of the Stonewood Clan
• Anya Taylor-Joy as Brea: The youngest Gelfling princess of the Vapra Clan
• Nathalie Emmanuel as Deet: Born Deethra; Gelfling animal caretaker of the Grottan Clan
• Donna Kimball as Aughra: The Keeper of Secrets, the embodiment of the planet Thra and an astronomer

Recurring voice cast

Gelfling

• Eddie Izzard as Cadia: A member of the Sifa Clan
• Helena Bonham Carter as Maudra Mayrin/The All-Maudra: Leader of the Vapra Clan, the queen and mother of Seladon, Tavra and Brea
• Caitriona Balfe as Tavra: A warrior of the Vapra Clan and one of Brea's sisters
• Harris Dickinson as Gurjin: A member of the Drenchen Clan and Rian's best friend
• Shazad Latif as Kylan: A song teller of the Spriton Clan
• Toby Jones as The Librarian: A member of the Vapra Clan who works in the library of the Vapra Citadel
• Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Seladon: Eldest of the princess sisters of the Vapra Clan and one of Brea's sisters. She becomes Maudra after her mothers death
• Lena Headey as Maudra Fara/The Rock Singer: Leader of the Stonewood Clan
• Alicia Vikander as Mira: A member of the Vapra Clan, a crystal castle guard and Rian's girlfriend
• Hannah John-Kamen as Naia: A member of the Drenchen Clan and Gurjin's twin sister
• Natalie Dormer as Onica: A member of the Sifa Clan
• Mark Strong as Ordon: A member of the Stonewood Clan, captain of the crystal castle guard, and Rian's father
• Theo James as Rek'yr: A member of the Dousan Clan
• James Dreyfus as Lath'N: A member of the Grottan Clan and one of Deet's fathers.
• Charlie Condou as Mitjan: A member of the Grottan Clan and one of Deet's fathers.
• Louise Gold as Maudra Argot/The Shadow Bender: Leader of the Grottan Clan
• Kemi-Bo Jacobs as Maudra Seethi/The Skin Painter: Leader of the Dousan Clan
• Nina Sosanya as Maudra Mera: Leader of the Spriton Clan
• Nimmy March as Maudra Laesid: Leader of the Drenchen Clan
• Beccy Henderson as Maudra Ethri: Leader of the Sifa Clan
  • Henderson also voices Bobb'N: Deet's brother and member of the Grottan Clan.

Skeksis

• Jason Isaacs as skekSo/The Emperor: The arrogant, greedy, iron-fisted and cold leader of the Skeksis.
• Simon Pegg as skekSil/The Chamberlain: The Emperor's chief advisor and second-in-line for the throne, a skilled and undermining trickster who plans to become the new Emperor.
• Benedict Wong as skekVar/The General: An aggressive and brutal Skeksis who is the most loyal to the Emperor.
• Mark Hamill as skekTek/The Scientist: The Skeksis's chief of science who abuses the Dark Crystal for barbaric work.
• Ralph Ineson as skekMal/The Hunter: The wildest and most bloodthirsty of the Skeksis.
• Andy Samberg as skekGra/The Heretic: A grumpy and crazy Skeksis. Formerly known as the Conqueror, he opposed his fellow Skeksis' decisions and lives with his Mystic counterpart in the Crystal Sea desert.
• Keegan-Michael Key as skekZok/The Ritual-Master: The pompous and gruff high priest of the Ceremony of the Sun.
• Awkwafina as skekLach/The Collector: A disease-infected Skeksis who collects tributes from the Gelfling clans.
• Harvey Fierstein as skekAyuk/The Gourmand: The greedy and gluttonous organizer of the Skeksis banquets.
• Alice Dinnean as skekEkt/The Ornamentalist: The vain designer of the Skeksis garments.
• Neil Sterenberg as skekOk/The Scroll-Keeper: The Crystal Castle's historian who delights in lying to get his way

urRu/Mystics

• Ólafur Darri Ólafsson as urVa/The Archer: A heroic, benevolent, honourable and loyal Mystic who's the counterpart of skekMal/The Hunter
• Bill Hader as urGoh/The Wanderer: The Mystic counterpart to skekGra/The Heretic who lives with his counterpart in the Crystal Sea desert

Others

• Dave Goelz as Baffi: An eyepatch-wearing Fizzgig
• Theo Ogundipe as Vliste-Staba: The Sanctuary Tree
• Sigourney Weaver as The Myth Speaker: The series' narrator
• Victor Yerrid as Hup: A Podling who is a friend of Deet

Puppeteers

• Warrick Brownlow-Pike as Skeksis skekSil/The Chamberlain, Lath'N, Maudra Laesid, Podling Servant #1, Red-Haired Paladin
• Dave Chapman as Gelflings Gurjin, Ordon and Skeksis skekSo/The Emperor
• Kevin Clash as Aughra, Skeksis skekVar/The General, skekMal/The Hunter, The Gelfling Librarian
• Daniel Dewhirst as the Garthim
• Alice Dinnean as Gelflings Brea, Maudra Fara, Bobb'N, Skeksis skekEkt/The Ornamentalist
• Damian Farrell as The Skeksis Heretic, Lore
• Louise Gold as Gelflings Onica, Maudra Argot, Maudra Ethri, Maudra Mayrin, Skeksis skekAyuk/The Gourmand, Podling Servant #2
• Beccy Henderson as Gelflings Deet and Naia
• Helena Smee as Gelflings Seladon, Mira and Skeksis skekLach/The Collector
• Katherine Smee as Aughra, Gelfling Deet, Skeksis skekVar/The General, skekSil/The Chamberlain, Podling Hup
• Neil Sterenberg as Gelflings Rian, Tavra and Skeksis skekOk/The Scroll Keeper
• Olly Taylor as Gelflings Rek'yr, Cadia, Skeksis skekTek/The Scientist, Mystic urVa/The Archer
• Victor Yerrid as Podling Hup, Mitjan, Skeksis skekZok/The Ritual Master, Gelfling Kylan

Episodes

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original release date
1	"End. Begin. All the Same."	Louis Leterrier	Jeffrey Addiss & Will Matthews	August 30, 2019 (2019-08-30)
A millennium has passed since Mother Aughra entrusted the Crystal of Truth to the alien Skeksis, who siphon its lifeforce to extend their own lives while proclaiming themselves Thra's rulers. The corrupted Dark Crystal begins to cease giving its energy away, with the Skeksis emperor skekSo ordering his scientist skekTek to devise an alternative means. skekTek accidentally learns to use the Crystal to siphon other beings' essence for the Skeksis to reinvigorate themselves. He abducts the Crystal Guard Gelfling Mira during her search for an Arathim in the catacombs, resulting in her death as the Skesis feast on most of her essence. This act is witnessed by Mira's boyfriend Rian, who escapes them. Meanwhile, Princess Brea of Ha'rar uncovers a symbol after questioning the Skeksis' laws following Ha'rar's tribute to skekOk and skekLach. Another Gelfling named Deet, of the Grottan Clan, embarks on a mission to save Thra from being consumed by the Darkening, a corruption building up within the Crystal.
2	"Nothing Is Simple Anymore"	Louis Leterrier	J.M. Lee	August 30, 2019 (2019-08-30)
As Aughra awakens upon sensing a calamity on Thra, Deet experiences the surface before gaining a traveling companion in the Podling Hup as they journey to Ha'rar. There, Brea visits Elder Cadia of the Sifa Clan for help deciphering the symbol's meaning. Cadia instead attempts to wipe out Brea's memory by having her drink powdered nulroot, only for her to switch the drinks at the last second. Cadia's apprentice Onica offers her services if Brea brings her the All-Maudra’s brightest jewel by tomorrow night. Back in the Castle, labeled a murderer, Rian uses dreamfasting to reveal Mira's death to their friend Gurjin. The two then resolve to steal the vial of Mira's essence as additional proof of the Skeksis' misdeeds. The two manage to acquire it when skekTek catches skekSil stealing it, but the two Skeksis capture Gurjin while Rian escapes with the vial. skekTek reports this to skekSo before skekSil spins the story so that the scientist is blamed for Rian's escape. The Crystal Guard are sent after Rian, and skekTek is subjected to an eye-gouging Peeper Beetle as punishment.
3	"What Was Sundered and Undone"	Louis Leterrier	Vivian Lee	August 30, 2019 (2019-08-30)
Deet and Hup find themselves unwelcome in the Stonewood clan's village, with Hup arrested while defending Deet's honor. Deet is denied from seeing Maudra Fara to appeal for Hup's freedom, while Fara and Ordon attempt to capture Rian before he escapes them. Rian and Deet encounter each other after nightfall, with the latter inspired by Rian with a scheme to free Hup. Meanwhile, as skekSil provides skekTek with Gruenek assistants, Aughra arrives at the Castle and learns of the Crystal's corruption before the Skeksis order her removal. Brea is sent to join the Order of Lesser Service for one year as punishment for the diplomatic incident she caused by wiping out Cadia's memories. Brea escapes the Order while they are cleaning Podlings, encountering Tavra who reveals that their mother sent her on a mission to retrieve Rian. She then returns to Ha'rar and acquires her mother's brightest jewel for Onica—an Unamoth chrysalis. With Onica's guidance, Brea asks the chrysalis for answers and follows the newly emerged Unamoth to a secret passage beneath her mother's throne.
4	"The First Thing I Remember Is Fire"	Louis Leterrier	Simon Racioppa & Richard Elliott	August 30, 2019 (2019-08-30)
Deet frees Hup from the Stonewood clan's dungeon by pretending to be a monster that scares the guards. In Ha'rar, Brea attempts to decipher the hidden chamber's riddle before realizing it reveals the Gelfling clan hierarchy to be false while awakening a stone giant that plays a recording on its body. The voice introduces the giant as Lore who will guide her to the Circle of the Suns, attracting the attention of Brea's oldest sister Seladon. Meanwhile, Aughra encounters urVa the Archer who advises her to learn from Thra to restore her connection to the planet. At the same time, the Skeksis' banquet in honor of skekEkt's return turns sour when skekSo replaces skekSil as his advisor with skekVar. This leads skekSil to summon skekMal the Hunter to retrieve Rian. As skekVar and skekZok leave to recruit "volunteers" from the Gelfling tribes, skekMal finds Rian after he dreamfasted the truth to Tavra, Ordon, Gurjin's sister Naia, and Kylan. skekMal survives Ordon's sacrificial attempt to stop him with ravenous Gobbles and then runs off with Rian as Deet and Hup watch.
5	"She Knows All the Secrets"	Louis Leterrier	Jeffrey Addiss & Will Matthews	August 30, 2019 (2019-08-30)
skekSil convinces skekMal to let him take Rian back to the Castle, consuming the vial's contents before smashing it, only for Rian to be saved by Naia and a freed Gurjin while Tavra remains in the Castle. In Ha'rar, skekVar and skekZok gather seven volunteers under the guise of recruits for a new Arathim rebellion. The All-Maudra is convinced by Brea to meet Lore, while Seladon encounters Hup and a disguised Deet who have infiltrated the Citadel. At the Sanctuary Tree, Aughra eventually realizes that she must listen to Thra to hear its song again and succeeds, with Rian's group, the All-Maudra, Brea, Deet and Seladon all ending up in the Dream Space while dreamfasting. While forced to send Seladon back the physical world due to her blind faith in the Skesis, Aughra reveals their actions against Thra and rallies the gathered Gelflings to stop them. The All-Maudra confronts the Skeksis and is killed by skekVar, with a bereaved Seladon allowing the Skeksis to take the "traitors" away as her first decree as the new All-Maudra.
6	"By Gelfling Hand ..."	Louis Leterrier	Kari Drake	August 30, 2019 (2019-08-30)
skekVar and skekZok are impeded by Rian's group while en route to the Castle, losing their prisoners when Lore catches up to their carriage. Rian convinces the Paladins to spread the word of the Skesis' misdeeds. The Crystal Guard stages a rebellion that is swiftly put down: they are defeated and drained, with Tavra among the captured. The Skesis decide to attack Stone-in-the-Wood after an astonished skekSil returns and reveals that the Stonewood clan have turned on them. urVa learns from Aughra that his destiny is to confront skekMal, whose defeat requires a sacrifice. In Ha'rar after sending the Living Crown pieces to the other Maudras to gather for her coronation and cremating her mother for "treason," Seladon finds herself challenged by Fara for the All-Maudra title. Seladon responds by renouncing the Crown and donning Skeksis-inspired regalia while declaring herself All-Maudra by the Skesis' will. At the Crystal Sea after a night of mourning, Rian's group are met by a Dousan clansman named Rek'yr who takes Rian, Deet, Brea, and Hup to the Circle of the Suns while the others leave to rally their clans.
7	"Time to Make ... My Move"	Louis Leterrier	Javier Grillo-Marxuach	August 30, 2019 (2019-08-30)
Rian's group reach the Circle of the Suns where they encounter a Skeksis named skekGra the Heretic and his Mystic counterpart urGoh the Wanderer. skekGra and urGoh gradually reveal their races' origins as the splintered urSkeks with the Darkening a byproduct of the Crystal's corruption. They announce their desire to merge back into their unified form GraGoh and need the Gelflings' help in using the Dual Glaive (a legendary weapon) to end the Skeksis' rule. As Rian's group set out to the Caves of Grot where the Dual Glaive is located, they are ambushed by skekMal who escapes with Brea after being mortally wounded by Mystic counterpart urVa. Meanwhile, keeping secret the fact that the Caves have been compromised by the Darkening, skekSo wins the Arathim Ascendancy's services by giving them back their ancestral home if they help put down the Stonewood Gelflings. The Ascendancy request Tavra as a host for their mind-controlling Arathim, which take over the Stonewood as they are preparing for battle and have them march to the Castle.
8	"Prophets Don't Know Everything"	Louis Leterrier	Simon Racioppa & Richard Elliott	August 30, 2019 (2019-08-30)
Rian and Deet travel through the Breath of Thra, thermal vents from the planet's core, to reach the Caves of Grot to find the Dual Glaive, but find the caves taken over by the Arathim with Deet's family and Maudra Argot among those under their control. Upon learning the Arathim are being attacked by the berserk Nurloc and revealing the Skesis tricked them, Rian and Deet convince the Ascendancy to join them against the Skeksis while getting them and Deet's family to the surface. In its last act, the Sanctuary Tree gives Deet the power to extract the Darkening from others. Meanwhile after ignoring Aughra's attempt to reason with her, Seladon travels to the Castle to beseech the Skesis for mercy to the Stonewood. But she instead learns the truth from Skesis themselves and is captured as a mortally-wounded skekMal returns to the Castle with Brea. The Skesis panic as skekSo orders for skekMal's life to be saved at any cost and Aughra states that she now knows what she must do.
9	"The Crystal Calls"	Louis Leterrier	Margaret Dunlap	August 30, 2019 (2019-08-30)
Rian and Deet acquire one half of the Dual Glaive from Maudra Argot, who hid it within her walking stick. They learn that Ordon had hidden the other half at Stone-in-the-Wood's crucible. At the Castle, Aughra offers her essence to revive skekMal in exchange for the captive Gelflings' freedom. Though skekSo accepts, he orders skekVar to kill the prisoners before they escape. Now permanently joined with the Ascendancy, Tavra reveals the Arathim-Gelfling alliance and injures skekVar before being fatally wounded by skekSil. He wins skekVar's loyalty by giving him a vial of essence to heal himself with. When it appears that Aughra's essence was not enough to prevent skekMal's death, skekSil proposes to the other Skeksis that they should create an obedient army from Arathim corpses. Rian reunites the Dual Glaive and issues a call to arms, calling all Geflings to meet at Stone-in-the-Wood. Hearing through the Crystal and threatening retaliation, skekSo orders an attack at dawn to stop the Rebellion before it can begin.
10	"A Single Piece Was Lost"	Louis Leterrier	Jeffrey Addiss & Will Matthews	August 30, 2019 (2019-08-30)
Rian and Deet are joined by Brea's group while waiting for the other clans' arrival. skekSo calls upon the Darkening before leading the Skesis to battle, ordering skekTek to remain at the Castle to work on the new army. Once the Skeksis arrive, skekSil sets up skekVar to fail in his duel with Rian and covertly kills him as the battle commences. skekMal is revealed to be alive as he shatters the Dual Glaive, only to be killed for good when urVa jumps off from the Circle of Suns, causing Aughra to be reconstituted. When the other clans arrive, skekSo unleashes the Darkening, which Deet rebounds to destroy skekLach while the other Skeksis retreat. As Brea finds the lost shard of the Crystal in the Dual Glaive's broken hilt, Deet leaves the group in fear of her power. While events in Stone-in-the-Wood unfold, skekTek kills the rebelling Gruenaks in a moment of frustrated rage. An inspired skekTek then grafts a dead Gruenak with the Arathim corpses, with the Skesis introduced to the newly animated Garthim.

Production

Pre-production

Initially conceived as a feature-length sequel to The Dark Crystal entitled The Power of the Dark Crystal, the project was for years in a state of development hell. In 2012, director Louis Leterrier expressed an interest in joining Jim Henson Productions in their project shortly after the release of Clash of the Titans, hoping to interest large studios, but was repeatedly turned down as, according to him, they were only interested in Transformers, and many executives had never heard of The Dark Crystal. It was during this impasse that Leterrier decided to shoot a prequel series rather than a film sequel because of the richness of material available in Jim Henson and Frank Oz's notes on the events leading up to the original film. Lisa Henson identified the "Wall of Destiny" from the original film as a "jumping point": "What was that culture? What was lost? What was that beautiful Gelfling civilization?" Jeff Addiss, Will Matthews and Javier Grillo Marxuach, all fans of The Dark Crystal, were subsequently hired as writers. The project was eventually sold to Netflix after Leterrier found a studio executive who shared the team's enthusiasm for the original film.

Development

In May 2017, it was announced that The Jim Henson Company, in association with Netflix, would produce a prequel to the film The Dark Crystal. The series, written by Jeffrey Addiss, Will Matthews, and Javier Grillo-Marxuach, began filming in the United Kingdom in November 2017 with Louis Leterrier serving as director.

At New York Comic Con in 2018, Leterrier insisted that the series would depend on puppetry and not CGI, except for the use of green screens to remove puppeteers. On December 17, 2018, the 36th anniversary of the original film's release, the voice cast was revealed, as well as some images of the main Gelfling characters. On May 30, 2019, Netflix released a teaser trailer and poster for the series, announcing its official release date on August 30, 2019. Additional voice actors were announced on June 26, including Awkwafina, Lena Headey, Hannah John-Kamen, Sigourney Weaver and Benedict Wong. It was released August 30, 2019.

Design

The puppets were fabricated in early 2017 in Jim Henson's Creature Shop in Los Angeles, then exported to Langley Studios in London, with The Muppets veteran Dave Goelz and The Dark Crystal's concept artist Brian Froud participating in performing and designing the characters. Aside from Froud's new sketches, the original film's tie-in book, The World of the Dark Crystal, was used as a reference point. Other sources of inspiration in building the world of Thra included Game of Thrones and Avatar: The Last Airbender.

According to Toby Froud, the first season of the show makes use of 20 principal puppets, with an additional 90 for secondary roles. Unlike the original film, the Gelfling puppets require only two puppeteers, as opposed to four in The Dark Crystal, thus permitting greater freedom of movement. Also, while the animatronic components of the original film's Gelfling puppets were controlled via cables, the mechanical parts of the new Gelflings were remotely operated via a modified Wii controller.

Marketing

On May 30, 2019, the first teaser trailer for the series was released and received a generally favorable response with Tasha Robinson, writing for The Verge, writing 'what's most compelling about this trailer, though, is the stunning fidelity to the original film'.

Reception

Critical response

The series has gained universal acclaim. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the series has a 90% "certified fresh" rating with an average score of 8.55/10, based on 48 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "An epic fantasy adventure that will please old and new fans alike, Age of Resistance expertly builds on the lore of The Dark Crystal, crafting compelling new mythos without losing sight of the humanity at the story's heart." On Metacritic, the series has a weighted average score of 85 out of 100, based on 18 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".

In a positive review for RogerEbert.com, critic Matt Fagerholm referred to the series as "quite simply, one of the all-time great fantasy epics, as well as the masterwork of puppetry most closely aligned with Jim Henson’s humanistic philosophy since his son Brian helmed 1992’s holiday perennial, The Muppet Christmas Carol." Matt Zoller Seitz of Vulture similarly praised the series, saying: "Age of Resistance is like an immense, ten-hour magic show, engrossing down to the very last wondrous detail. This is an altogether staggering artistic achievement, and a joyful continuation of the Henson tradition."

In a mostly positive review, Keith Phipps of TV Guide stated that "Age of Resistance is, in many respects, an extraordinary accomplishment. Which isn't to say it doesn't run into some problems along the way." In a more mixed review for The Daily Telegraph, Ed Power wrote, "There are real pleasures to be had watching beautiful puppets running, kissing and poking each others' eyes out. But the Dark Crystal is in such a hurry to create a splash it plunges off the deep end too soon."

Video game

During a Nintendo Direct at E3 2019, it was announced that a video game based on the Netflix series, called The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Tactics, was in development by BonusXP and En Masse Entertainment. The game is set to release sometime in 2019 for Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Microsoft Windows, and macOS.

External links

• The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance at IMDb