The Nevers

Fandom
Name:	The Nevers
Abbreviation(s):
Creator:	Joss Whedon
Date(s):	April 11, 2021 – February 15, 2023
Medium:	TV Series
Country of Origin:	United States
External Links:	at IMDb at Wikipedia Official Website at HBO
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

The Nevers is a science fiction TV series which ran for 1 season on HBO. Set in Victorian London, the show focuses on a group of people, mostly women, known as the Touched, who began to develop supernatural abilities.

Canon

An epic tale following a gang of Victorian women who find themselves with unusual abilities, relentless enemies, and a mission that might change the world.

Main Characters

• Amalia True
• Penance Adair
• Maladie | Sarah Eason
• Frank Mundi
• Augustus 'Augie' Bidlow
• Hugo Swann
• Lavinia Bidlow

Major Characters

• Lord Gilbert Massen
• "Bonfire" Annie Carbey
• Doctor Horatio Cousens
• Doctor Edmund Hague
• Nimble Jack
• Lucy Best
• Primrose Chattoway
• Myrtle Haplisch
• Harriet Kaur
• Desirée Blodgett
• Mary Brighton
• The Beggar King | Declan Orrun

LGBT Characters in The Nevers

There were a number of canonically queer characters in The Nevers, though some viewers were critical of some of the representation which involved tired and, at times, offensive tropes. Similar criticisms were discussed regarding the show's portrayals of race and disability.

Protagonist, Amalia True, was canonically in a polyamorous relationship with a man and a woman before she went back in time to Victorian England, though this was only demonstrated via a single line of dialogue and a "blink and you'll miss it" flashback scene. Frank Mundi is gay and previously had a relationship with polyamorous and pansexual Hugo Swann, which the viewer is left to interpret did not end on good terms. Their reconciliation before the tragic events of the season finale was a canonical sub-plot throughout the season. Nimble Jack, played by non-binary actor Vinnie Heaven, was confirmed as canonically trans by Heaven. The developing romantic relationship between Nimble Jack and "Bonfire" Annie Carbey was a very minor sub-plot, consisting mostly of banter and verbal flirtations before the final episode. There were some, minor, canonical events and dialogue which suggested Maladie was queer, including flirtations with "Bonfire" Annie Carbey and a later, aggressive kiss with Amalia True. However, due to the aforementioned tired tropes, it was difficult to tell whether Maladie was queer, or whether it was supposed to be unpredictable behaviour in an an offensive “hysterical violent woman” trope.

Cancellation

Between filming The Nevers and the release of the first half of the season, a number of allegations of abuse and misconduct perpetrated by Joss Whedon on other projects (including Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Justice League) came to light, and The Nevers' production company released a statement in November 2020 that Whedon would be parting ways with the show. Some reviewers pointed out that this likely impacted people's engagement with the show.

The Nevers' filming was then disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to the series being split into 1A and 1B. There was a long gap between the two parts, with fans becoming unsure as more time passed whether it was returning at all, especially given how many shows seemed to be being cancelled after 1 or 2 seasons. There were few updates about the future of The Nevers, until December 2022, when HBO announced that, along with Westworld, The Nevers was not only being cancelled, but was being removed entirely from HBO's streaming library. HBO assured fans the second half of the season would be released on a new platform.

Eventually it moved to Tubi, where problems for fans only continued due to various scheduling and airing decisions that fans could make no sense of. The show has aired on Tubi twice to date; once starting on Monday the 13th February 2023 and once starting Wednesday 1st March, and on both occasions during the afternoon US Eastern Time with all 12 episodes split across three days. It has not aired since and could only be watched live on Tubi's service. This led to a large number of fans being unable to watch the show and a spate of file-sharing on social media platforms so other fans could watch the final episodes. This meant that when, later in the year, The Nevers was nominated for an Emmy, there was nowhere anyone could legally watch the show, a situation shared by the short-lived Grease prequel 'Rise of the Pink Ladies'.

Fandom

The AO3 tag for The Nevers has 94 works as of August 2023 and, even at the height of its popularity, the amount of fandom engagement and discussions in other online spaces and social media was small to moderate.

Pairings

Due to the small fandom size, there aren't any particularly large pairings in the fandom, so the pairings below are either canonical or those with multiple fanworks, creations, and discussions on social media or fandom sites like AO3.

• Penance Adair/Amalia True (Trudair) is a non-canon pairing. It is the most popular pairing on AO3 with 55 out of the 94 works tagged with it.
• Frank Mundi/Hugo Swann is a canon pairing.
• "Bonfire" Annie Carbey/Nimble Jack is a canon pairing.
• Penance Adair/Augustus 'Augie' Bidlow is a canon pairing.
• Augustus 'Augie' Bidlow/Hugo Swann is a non-canonical pairing.

Example Fanworks

Fanfiction

• Always Fine by emery3002
• The Last Wall of a Lonely Soldier by DawnTreader2016
• Catch a Falling Start by Samunderthelights

Fan Vids

• Amalia True || Soldier by jo

Archives & Fannish Links

• The Nevers on TV Tropes

Archives

• The Nevers fanworks at AO3

Communities

• The Nevers tag on Tumblr
• The Nevers subreddit on Reddit