The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance: Fans Won’t Think About How it All Ends When Watching Netflix Series

When Netflix‘s The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance debuts on August 30th, it will take viewers into a story set well before Jim Henson’s 1982 masterpiece, The Dark Crystal. That means, as one would expect with a prequel, that some viewers tuning in will already know how the story ends. That creates a challenging prospect, but according to Jim Henson Company CEO Lisa Henson, fans aren’t going to necessarily think about the ending while watching the prequel.

ComicBook.com was on hand for The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance press conference at San Diego Comic-Con this weekend and Henson said that we can’t ignore a story’s past because we know the present and compared that to thinking about our own histories and futures.

“What’s gonna happen to us, you know centuries from now? We don’t know,” Henson said. “We just kind of have to live our daily lives and win the daily battle. We think this is a really hopeful and inspiring story about heroes who, when faced with a really scary and mysterious threat — which is what the Skeksis are doing to them and threatening their very life essence — you know, they manage to pull together and fight as a team. You kind of don’t expect gelfling — if you know the original film — you don’t expect gelfling to have that kind of gumption. You don’t even know that they have a fight in them, but they do. And we learn that they do in the series.”

For those who are unfamiliar, The Dark Crystal is a 1982 dark children’s fantasy film. Widely regarded as a masterpiece, especially when it comes to its use of puppetry, the movie features only animatronic characters and tells the story of the dying world Thra and its inhabitants. Thousands of years prior to the events of The Dark Crystal, the titular Dark Crystal cracked and created to races, the horrifying Skeksis and a kind, gentle group of wizards called the Mystics. With the Skeksis — who used what power remained in the Dark Crystal to keep themselves alive — poised to become immortal, the last of the Gelfling race, Jen and Kira, must take the final shard of the crystal on a journey to repair it before a fateful celestial event that will doom their world.

This Dark Crystal prequel series will follow the adventures of three young Gelfling — Rian, Brea, and Deet — as they go on a journey together to discover the secret behind the Skeksis’ rise to power. Film director Louis Leterrier (The Incredible Hulk, Now You See Me) is bringing the 10-episode series to life for Netflix.

The streaming service has assembled an absolutely stellar voice cast for this prequel, with Kingsman star Taron Egerton, Split and Glass standout Anya Taylor-Joy, and Game of Thrones alum Nathalie Emmanuel portraying the three main characters. The trio is joined by Mark Hamill, Andy Samberg, Caitriona Balfe, Helena Bonham-Carter, Harris Dickinson, Eddie Izzard, Theo James, Toby Jones, Shazad Latif, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Mark Strong, Alicia Vikander, Harvey Fierstein, Ralph Ineson, Keegan-Michael Key, Olafur Darri Olafsson, Simon Pegg, and Donna Kimball.

You can check out a short synopsis for the series below.

“The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance will combine the art of puppetry perfected by The Jim Henson Company, with Louis’ vision, powerful storytelling and a mix of cutting-edge digital imagery and visual effects,” Cindy Holland, Vice President of Original Content at Netflix, previously said in a statement. “I can’t wait for families around the world to see how we bring these unique characters to life.”

The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance will debut on Netflix on August 30th.