Cara Delevingne and Orlando Bloom, the two leads of the upcoming Amazon fantasy series “Carnival Row,” discussed the show’s immigrant themes at Amazon’s Television Critics Association press tour.
“It really looks at the fear that people have. I think there’s so much fear in the world today about immigrants, migrants, how are they going to come into our society,” Bloom said.
Delevingne added that she believes “that fear is from the government,” revealing that the show creates its own version of the British parliament and will feature fictionalized debate scenes on immigration.
The actors touched on the sex in the show and how it relates to the subject of immigrants. Delevingne plays a member of the faerie population, many of whom turn to sex work to “support their families,” according to Bloom.
“It’s tragic and it’s true and it happens in the world today,” the actor said.
“If you miss the sexy element where’s the light at all,” Delevingne aded. “It’s not objectifying at all, it’s beautiful and it’s amazing.”
Later in the panel, the series’ showrunner-executive producer Marc Guggenheim weighed in on the WGA-ATA stalemate and how it affected “Carnival Row.”
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“I want to see the stalemate resolved, I want us to get back into the room to negotiate,” Guggenheim began. “We were able to staff up the second season without agents…but agents do a lot more than simply submit writing samples to showrunners…We can get by without agents for that, but that’s not to say we shouldn’t be getting back into a room and working out a deal.”
Creator Travis Beacham discussed how he originally wrote the show as a feature script which appeared on the very first Blacklist in 2005. At that time, Guillermo del Toro was on board to co-write, direct and executive produce the project.
The series is set in a Victorian fantasy world filled with mythological immigrant creatures whose exotic homelands were invaded by the empires of man. This growing population struggles to coexist under the onerous laws of humanity. Vignette (Delevingne) and Philo (Bloom) rekindle a dangerous affair despite an increasingly intolerant society. Vignette also harbors a secret that endangers Philo’s world during his most important case yet: a string of gruesome murders threatening the uneasy peace of the Row.
Delevingne had previously told Variety that her character is “a pansexual faerie” and discussed some of the themes the series deals with.
“It’s really talking about immigration and refugees and classism and sexism, racism and elitism,” Delevingne said.
During an interview at Comic-Con, Bloom said that the series “addresses a lot of what we are experiencing today but with the added component of a fantasy period.”
“We can explore these issues that are going on in the world today with a kind of empathy and objective quality that doesn’t feel like it’s banging you over the head,” Bloom said.
It was announced at Amazon’s Television Critics Association press tour that the show was renewed for a second season a full month ahead of its season 1 debut on August 30.