We’re not in Kansas anymore… and from the looks of things in this new clip, we’re not even in the Oz we are all familiar with. ‘Emerald City’ premiers on January 6 on NBC and offers a new dramatic spin on the classic tales first presented in writer L. Frank Baum’s classic novels and most famously brought to life in the 1939 film ‘The Wizard of Oz’. And while the film remains a perennial favorite, in more recent years, the Broadway musical ‘Wicked’ has rekindled interest in this rich mythology about a magical kingdom that exists “Somewhere Over The Rainbow.”
But don’t expect any frolicking down the Yellow Brick Road. This is a more mature spin and takes place in a Land of Oz in which the Wizard (played by Vincent D’Onofrio from Netflix’s ‘Daredevil’) has banished magic, with the witches relegated to mundane roles like running an orphanage… and a brothel. And while these clips from the show do play up certain fantasy elements, certain major things are changed, most noticeably the Scarecrow being reinterpreted as an ordinary human man, Lucas played by Oliver Jackson-Cohen.
You can check out the full clip, complete with interviews with the cast and director, Tarsem Singh below:
Director Singh has previously reinterpreted a classic children’s tale in the film ‘Mirror Mirror‘ based on ‘Snow White’. Singh, know for his striking visuals, helmed all ten episodes of ‘Emerald City”s first season.
The most obvious comparison for this show is obviously ‘Game of Thrones’. One character actually even says “War is coming” which is only a slight variation on ‘GoT”s classic tag line “Winter is coming.” And of course, ‘GoT’ is heavy on the fantasy warfare.
It remains to be seen if viewers will tune in for this darker tale of Oz. Attempts have been made in the past, like Disney’s 1985 flop ‘Return To Oz’ and even the more lighthearted ‘Oz the Great and Powerful‘ in 2013, which under-performed at the box office.
Will you be paying a visit to ‘Emerald City’?
‘Emerald City’ debuts on January 6, 2017 on NBC and stars Adria Arjona, Gerran Howell, Vincent D’Onofrio, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Isabel Lucas, Stefanie Martini and Ana Ulara.
Source: Yahoo!
