Kids are also affected by the political situation around them and this renders the plot of The Mysterious Benedict Society relatable. Adults will immediately recognize current politics in this alternate universe where the language of The Emergency is the language of misinformation. “I double-checked the copyright page when I was reading it because it just seemed that the themes were so resonant and relevant to today.” This theme adds depth and immediacy to the children’s mission. The title of the series comes from the team name the children give themselves.Īlthough the adventure elements are clearly targeted towards today’s preteens, the political undertones of the story are definitely going to be the element that appeals to adults who haven’t read the novel series. The mission is going to test not only their skills but also their stamina to resist the subliminal messaging. Renard “Reynie” Muldoon (Mystic Inscho) is a master puzzle solver, George “Sticky” Washington (Seth Carr) is a trivia champion, Kate Weatherall (Emmy DeOlivera) is a budding engineer and meteorologist, and Constance Contraire (Marta Kessler) is a social rebel who needs a cause to properly apply her truth-seeking instincts. After a series of rigorous tests, he assembles a team of four extremely smart orphans to infiltrate and to find the person responsible. Benedict has two extremely capable assistants in Rhonda Kazembe (MaameYaa Boafo) and Number 2 (Kristen Schaal) he needs children to infiltrate the educational institute from which the messages about The Emergency originate. Kids are naturally more curious and at times confrontational about accepting authority and fate. There are subliminal messages about The Emergency broadcast across the media and adults have accepted these messages as truth. Benedict (Tony Hale), a scientist living in an alternate universe who is very concerned that the world’s increased anxiety, called The Emergency, is not, in fact, the organic result of social politics, but rather is being orchestrated by someone outside the government. ”Then as the show went along, he read all the scripts, he saw the cuts…whenever he had an idea, it obviously rang a lot of bells for us… and, it was just very important to us that he be pleased and like it.” “We talked to him very early in the adaptation process, got to know him,” Hay says. Several other middle grade books from the mid 2000’s, most notably the Percy Jackson movies, were reduced to in-name-only movie adaptations that butchered the essence of the stories, due to authors having no input on the adaptation. The most important example of this love comes through in novel series author Stewart signing on as consulting producer on the series. “We were aware of the book when we were brought them, and read the first one and just fell in love,” Manfredi tells Den of Geek. Den of Geek talked to series creators Hay and Manfredi, who previously worked on AEon Flux and the Ride Along movie series together, to discuss the behind the scenes of translating this middle grade mystery adventure to the silver streaming screen. (I myself discovered the series while working in summer camp and after school a year or two after publication.) The series was in development hell for over a decade before Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi joined the project in 2017. Stewart first published The Mysterious Benedict Society in 2007, which means the original readers are now adults and even parents themselves. The series is based on the bestselling middle grade book series by Trenton Lee Stewart. The Mysterious Benedict Society is not only Disney+’s latest television series, it’s one of the streamer’s noteworthy original TV projects outside the massive Marvel and Star Wars franchises… But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have a source material. There are no book spoilers beyond the plots featured in the first two episodes. This article contains spoilers for the first two episodes of The Mysterious Benedict Society plus teasers for future episodes.
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