Distributor: Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
Episodes: 10
Duration: 45 min (per episode)
Raised by Wolves: Season 1 (Blu-ray) – Series Review
New series tend to follow largely the same format or are simply reboots or sequels of other series, and more than often these new shows don’t bring that much excitement to the table anymore. We see shows get canceled every day, and many viewers actually forget these ‘samey’ series a few days later. When we first saw the original trailer for Raised by Wolves, we were quite intrigued, especially when we learned that Ridley Scott was also involved with the project. The director may have had a bit of negative publicity recently due to his behavior in interviews, but we cannot deny that many of his past projects were original and captivating. We soon found ourselves sucked into the world of Raised by Wolves, and we can honestly say that we were absolutely enthralled.
Raised by Wolves revolves around two androids, Mother (Amanda Collin) and Father (Abubakar Salim), who are tasked to build a human society on the remote planet Kepler-22b. Upon arrival, Mother is to be a surrogate mother for several frozen embryos and together with Father, they will have to raise the children to be peaceful atheists. The strange planet does present its own set of challenges, as there is no easy access to food, and the pair of androids only have limited resources at their disposal. They succeed at raising several children, but sadly, most succumb to illness. On top of that, the Mithraic vessel, which carries the religious faction that won the war on Earth, has also arrived on the planet after slightly over a decade.
The pacing and flow of the series are also quite spot on. Each episode does handle a few problems, but the main story also keeps progressing at a steady pace. You get to learn about Mother and Father’s mission, while you also get to see what happens on the Mithraic side of the fence. Then, we are also often taken back to Earth, to see what has occurred during the war that has basically destroyed the planet. Even though the series may not be extremely fast-paced, you’ll never encounter a dull moment, and each scene feels completely relevant to the story or for worldbuilding purposes. The ten-episode format also feels like the right choice, and things never get dragged out. Even when trying extremely hard to find a point of criticism, we cannot find a single one.
A lot of shows nowadays have higher budgets than they did a few decades ago, and this often also translates into better cast performances. When it comes to Raised by Wolves, you’ll be getting absolutely phenomenal performances from start to finish. All the children and young adults in this series play their parts perfectly, and other main cast members such as Travis Fimmel and Niamh Algar also put down memorable performances. In the case of Travis Fimmel, however, we do find that the actor is just playing his famous Vikings character, Ragnar Lothbrok, albeit in a Sci-Fi setting. Two cast members that could never receive enough praise are Amanda Collin and
Abubakar Salim. These two amazingly talented actors hit the ball out of the park with their depiction of the two androids that start a new civilization on an alien planet. We were amazed by the range of both actors, and we absolutely loved seeing their characters evolve throughout the course of the first ten episodes.
Sadly, the Blu-ray edition of the first season of Raised by Wolves comes with no real memorable extras. On the last disc, you will find four very short featurettes that revolve around the creative process behind the series, and these are incredibly shallow at best. We do see a few storyboards that are brought to life, but that’s about it. In total, there are only ten minutes of additional content. We regretted not having more in-depth behind-the-scenes footage; or even deleted scenes for that matter. While the series stands incredibly tall on its own, a physical copy should come with more content than what is on offer here.
Conclusion
Raised by Wolves is an amazing series with great acting performances, wonderful worldbuilding, and an intriguing story that will captivate many viewers. The story progresses nicely, and you’re constantly driven to the edge of your seat. Even though the series has been canceled after its second season, we still find this one a must-see series, and we hope it will get picked up by another streaming platform in the future. If you’re into Sci-Fi and fantasy, you cannot go wrong with this one.
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[…] been less than a year since we watched the first season of Raised by Wolves, and we were not only entertained by the series as a whole, but we simply adored the worldbuilding, […]