X
  • 2020
  • TV-MA
  • Starz
  • 2020
  • TV-MA
  • Starz
The Luminaries

Summary Anna Wetherell (Eve Hewson) travels to New Zealand to start a new life during the gold rush in 1866 where she meets Emery Staines (Himesh Patel) and Lydia Wells (Eva Green) in this six-part series based on Eleanor Catton's book of the same name. [Premiered originally in New Zealand's TVNZ 1 on 17 May 2020, in the UK on BBC One on 21 J...

  • 2020
  • TV-MA
  • Starz
  • 2020
  • TV-MA
  • Starz

The Luminaries

Season 1 Premiere: May 17, 2020
Metascore Generally Favorable Based on 11 Critic Reviews
62
User Score Available after 4 ratings
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Summary Anna Wetherell (Eve Hewson) travels to New Zealand to start a new life during the gold rush in 1866 where she meets Emery Staines (Himesh Patel) and Lydia Wells (Eva Green) in this six-part series based on Eleanor Catton's book of the same name. [Premiered originally in New Zealand's TVNZ 1 on 17 May 2020, in the UK on BBC One on 21 J...

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Critic Reviews

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Metascore
Generally Favorable Based on 11 Critic Reviews
62
36% Positive
4 Reviews
64% Mixed
7 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
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Critic Reviews

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Metascore
Generally Favorable Based on 11 Critic Reviews
62
36% Positive
4 Reviews
64% Mixed
7 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews
100
Feb 12, 2021
Instead of making her second telling of The Luminaries a pale imitation of its predecessor, she [Eleanor Catton] offers up yet another set of twins: two consummate works in two different mediums.
By Judy Berman FULL REVIEW
80
Jan 19, 2021
A cracking, challenging read has become a cracking, unchallenging series and both do their jobs perfectly. Joy.
By Lucy Mangan FULL REVIEW
62
Feb 10, 2021
The Luminaries is placidly entertaining, and Hewson is likable in a listless role that becomes the focus of the entire production, but it lacks any spark that might make it an essential watch.
By Allison Keene FULL REVIEW
58
Feb 11, 2021
The Luminaries doesn’t dig deep enough into its many possibilities—including any lore of the country it is set in—but Hewson’s soulful performance carries the show forward until its end.
By Saloni Gajjar FULL REVIEW
42
Feb 16, 2021
Like the entire plot of “The Luminaries,” everything in this opening scene is overstuffed and hard to discern.
By Ann Donahue FULL REVIEW
40
Feb 16, 2021
In trying to make this sprawling narrative TV-friendly, a narrative momentum has been lost, with too many characters and too many timelines and situations going on at the same time. The three leads, Patel, Hewson and Green, all do good jobs with their roles, but the show just feels like it’s going to wander in the wilderness like the delirious Anna before it figures out where to go.
By Joel Keller FULL REVIEW
40
Jan 19, 2021
Watching the first two-and-a-half hours was a bit like being in a drug-addled dream anyway: coherent in some places, baffling in others — weird timelines, plot strings as clear as mud and the production seeming perfectly content with that. The acting, though, is good. Commendable given that the actors are carrying the handicap of a complex novel confusingly boiled down to six episodes.
By Carol Midgley FULL REVIEW

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Details

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Production Company:
  • British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
  • Southern Light Films
  • TVNZ
  • Working Title Television
Initial Release Date: May 17, 2020
Number of seasons: 1 Season
Rating: TV-MA
Genres:
All Details

Awards

ReFrame
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
Australian Directors Guild Awards
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
New Zealand Cinematographers Society
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination

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