The fantasy TV show Carnival Row is a neo-noir show that started on Amazon Prime Video in 2019 and ended in 2023. In the show, Orlando Bloom and Cara Delevingne play a human detective and a fairy refugee who fall in love again even though they shouldn’t.
They do this in a Victorian fantasy world where humans are cruel to mythical creatures. But did the story in Carnival Row really happen? The answer isn’t exactly that, but it gets ideas from many different historical and literary sources.
What is Carnival Row All About?
In the series, Rycroft Philostrate (Bloom), a half-fae inspector for the Burgue Constabulary, looks into a series of murders that are linked to a dark plot involving an old evil. He also meets up with his old love, a fairy named Vignette Stonemoss (Delevingne), who thought he was dead after the war.
Their different backgrounds and the social stigma they face make it hard for them to get along. Meanwhile, other characters deal with their own struggles and conflicts, such as Imogen Spurnrose (Tamzin Merchant).
An heiress who becomes involved with Agreus Astrayon (David Gyasi), a wealthy faun shunned by Burgue high society; Sophie Longerbane (Caroline Ford), a cunning politician who schemes to overthrow the government; and Jonah Breakspear (Arty Froushan), the son of the Chancellor who gets entangled with a mysterious cult.
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Is Carnival Row Based on a True Story?
Even though Carnival Row is not based on a true story, it does have some parts that are based on real history and events that are happening right now. For example, the war between The Burgue and The Pact can be seen as a metaphor for the World Wars or other wars that caused large numbers of people to leave their homes and become refugees.
The plight of the fae in The Burgue is similar to that of immigrants and minorities in many parts of the world, who have to deal with racism and oppression. The series also uses folklore, mythology, and religion from different cultures and traditions, such as Celtic, Norse, Greek, Egyptian, Hindu, and more.
René Echevarria and Travis Beacham made Carnival Row. It was based on Beacham’s unmade spec script for a movie called A Killing on Carnival Row. Beacham wrote the script in 2005, after being inspired by a sketch he made of a faun in a Victorian city.
He wanted to use a fantasy lens to look at themes like immigration, racism, classism, and colonialism. He was also influenced by stories like The Lord of the Rings, Sherlock Holmes, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
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