Station Master
SFX|February 2022
Don’t panic! Pandemic tale Station Eleven makes a timely leap to TV
Emily St John Mandel
Station Master

IT’S THE END OF THE WORLD AS we know it, and Station Eleven showrunner Patrick Somerville wants you to feel fine. Or at least more optimistic than the standard post-apocalyptic scenario.

“If eight billion people die between episodes one and two, what you owe as a storyteller for the next nine episodes is joy and life and rebuilding,” he tells Red Alert. “Let’s not investigate pain. Let’s investigate healing. That’s the only version of this kind of story that I’m interested in telling.”

Adapting Emily St John Mandel’s Clarke Award-winning novel, Station Eleven finds hope in the aftermath of global catastrophe. A lethal swine flu pandemic has devastated humanity. Now, 20 years on, the survivors fight to preserve the fragments of civilisation – while facing a dangerous and violent cult.

“I read Emily’s book when it came out in 2014,” says Somerville, a fellow author who first met Mandel two years earlier, when the pair were promoting novels together at a small bookshop in the Chicago suburbs.

This story is from the February 2022 edition of SFX.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.

This story is from the February 2022 edition of SFX.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.

MORE STORIES FROM SFXView All
Spooks Ghouls & Freaks Fools
SFX UK

Spooks Ghouls & Freaks Fools

WITH ITS ECLECTIC cast, broad comedy and supernatural farce, Rentaghost was a mainstay of BBC children’s TV from the late ’70s to the mid-’80s and like nothing else.

time-read
10 mins  |
May 2024
LOST IN THE SHADOWS
SFX UK

LOST IN THE SHADOWS

THE EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS OF INTERDIEW WITH THE DAMPIRE DISCUSS THE FUTURE OF LESTAT, LOUIS, CLAUDIA AND WHERE THE ANNE RICE UNIVERSE IS HEADING

time-read
8 mins  |
May 2024
NINE LIVES
SFX UK

NINE LIVES

ON SET FOR THE FINAL SERIES OF INSIDE NO 9. STEVE PEMBERTON AND REECE SHEARSMITH REFLECT ON THE TYRANNY OF THE TWIST

time-read
9 mins  |
May 2024
NOA'S ARC
SFX UK

NOA'S ARC

CAESAR'S STORY MAY BE DONE AND DUSTED, BUT AS HIS CREATORS RICK JAFFA AND AMANDA SILVER TELL US, THERE'S STILL PLENTY OF TERRAIN TO EXPLORE IN - KINGDOM OF THE PLANET OF THE APES

time-read
7 mins  |
May 2024
TICKET TO RIDE
SFX UK

TICKET TO RIDE

DIRECTOR BEN CHESSELL TAKES THE TARDIS BACK IN TIME IN HIS TWO EPISODES

time-read
7 mins  |
May 2024
SERVING FACE
SFX UK

SERVING FACE

HAIR AND MAKE-UP DESIGNER CLAIRE WILLIAMS ON NEW LOOKS

time-read
4 mins  |
May 2024
BABY BOOM
SFX UK

BABY BOOM

The TARDIS lands on a spaceship. It was very, very hard to shoot. We used real babies! I like to do things that I’ve never done before and sometimes that’s quite hard, with such a long career as mine.

time-read
6 mins  |
May 2024
BOXING CLEVER
SFX UK

BOXING CLEVER

DOCTOR WHO IS BACK AND THIS TIME IT'S TAKING OVER THE PLANET

time-read
10+ mins  |
May 2024
WELCOME HOME
SFX UK

WELCOME HOME

THE CREATIVE MINDS BEHIND THE LIVE-ACTION ADAPTATION OF THE FALLOUT GAME SERIES EXPLAIN THEIR ORIGINAL TAKE ON BETHESDA'S POST-APOCALYPTIC WORLD

time-read
8 mins  |
April 2024
MONSTERS INC
SFX UK

MONSTERS INC

THE TITANS UNITE IN HOT COLLAB GODZILLA X KONG: THE NEW EMPIRE

time-read
7 mins  |
April 2024