Following an evocative teaser earlier this month, Netflix has dropped a full-length trailer for its upcoming coming-of-age crime adaptation, Boy Swallows Universe. The new trailer gives a better feel for the direction of the story, as well as locking in a January release date for the series.
The trailer opens with protagonist Eli Bell (Felix Cameron) approaching a newspaper office claiming to have a story to tell. “It’s a crime story,” he tells the receptionist, launching into a trailer that showcases both the humor and heartbreak that the series is sure to deliver. We get a look at a handful of iconic scenes from the book, including the kidnapping of Eli’s father-in-law Lyle Orlick (Travis Fimmel) and Eli’s attempted break-in of Boggo Road Gaol.
We also get our first glimpse of Australian screen legends Deborah Mailman and Bryan Brown in their roles as counsellor Poppy Birkbeck and criminal-turned-babysitter Slim Halliday, respectively. Meanwhile, the new Boy Swallows Universe trailer still only vaguely hints towards the magic realism elements that play a major role in making the source material so compelling.
Boy Swallows Universe is an adaptation of Trent Dalton’s award-winning 2018 novel of the same name. It’s the story of a boy trying to understand a world with a mute brother and a family with deep ties to the criminal underworld and all the dangers that spring therefrom. The book is described as semi-autobiographical, chronicling a fictionalized version of Dalton’s childhood and youth in Brisbane through the 1980s.
The series is set to debut on Netflix on January 11, 2024, comprising of eight episodes in total.
