Netflix has had a lot of success with in-house comic book adaptations. Shows like Jessica Jones and Daredevil were important early hits and they’ve followed them up with the award-winning Umbrella Academy (check out the recent trailer for season 2 above) and movies like The Old Guard (which looks very promising). That winning streak will hopefully continue with Warrior Nun, which is sounding like it’s going to kick some serious ass.
The show is based on Ben Dunn’s comic book series Warrior Nun Areala, which began in 1994 and tells the tale of the Order of the Cruciform Sword, a mysterious order of warrior nuns fighting for the Catholic Church. The story has vastly expanded over the years, creating a lengthy continuity that manages to make this world of super-powered battle nuns weirdly plausible. Netflix’s take on it seems to be to taking it back to basics though, with their synopsis explaining:
“After waking up in a morgue, an orphaned teen discovers she now possesses superpowers as the chosen Halo-Bearer for a secret sect of demon-hunting nuns.”
Heading up the adaptation is Ghost Wars, Van Helsing and Continuum showrunner Simon Barry. The show features an impressive array of writing talent, too, including X-Men and Watchmen screenwriter David Hayter, who’s also famous for voicing Solid Snake/Big Boss in the Metal Gear Solid series of games. In front of the lens are Alba Baptista as Ava, Tristan Ulloa as Father Vincent, Toya Turner as the awesomely named Shotgun Mary and Sylvia De Fanti as Sister Lilith.
One aspect of the property that’ll be interesting to see is how they approach the Catholic Church. The comic book casts them as the heroes in a battle between heaven and hell and presents them in a fairly rosy light. Thing is, audiences will naturally associate the church with child abuse and subsequent cover-ups. The comic series has addressed this and I expect the show to as well, but however it goes about it, we’ll be in controversial territory.
Warrior Nun‘s ten-episode first season will be released on July 2nd.