Spoiler alert: This story contains spoilers for Lord of the Flies, which is currently available on Netflix.
Fans of William Golding’s 1954 classic “Lord of the Flies,” about a group of schoolboys stranded on a tropical island, will no doubt expect to see the death of Piggy (also known as Nicky) in the new four-part series from showrunner, writer and executive producer Jack Thorne.
“In the original, he dies instantly. It’s really shocking. It comes out of nowhere. I think what Jack Thorne did pretty wisely was to drag out his death so that you could see that Ralph and Piggy’s relationship continued,” director and executive producer Mark Munden said on “Making a Scene,” a variety show presented by HBO Max.
A heartbreaking scene shows Ralph (Winston Sawyers) watching his friend Piggy (David McKenna) die, followed by Ralph carrying Piggy’s body through the woods. This was an important scene at the heart of the show, and Thorne wanted to land Ralph’s character development, from treating Piggy poorly to “learning that he is actually a man with a wild heart.”
Thorne explained why filming this scene wasn’t just emotionally difficult: “We were completely stupid. We were stupid to film where we went. Not only was it difficult to get to, it was a deserted island. We had to take a boat to get there. And when we got there, they had cut a hole with a machete so the camera could go through. But Mark insisted that the island be a character in the show.”
In preparation for the scene, McKenna and Sawyers read the scene early in rehearsal, but did not film it until after filming had finished. On this day, McKenna said, “I try to stay as quiet as possible and think about things that make me sad and weak.” He added: “I had to put my weight in the hands of Winston.”
“There was fake blood in my hair. We were filming in humid heat, so I lifted a chunk of my hair in the middle of the day and there was blood on it,” McKenna explained. “That was the fun of filming!”
McKenna said that the more takes a scene had, the more “tiring” filming became. Munden added: “People were falling apart behind the monitors. I was alone with the boys and there was a kind of quiet respect for them. I have to say I coached the boys the same way I would coach adults. They approached it with amazing aptitude.”
Thorne was not on set when this scene was filmed, but praised Munden’s visual approach to the emotional moment. “There’s something so extraordinary about Mark’s direction of this scene, and I think it’s all about restraint. Mark sits back where anyone else would lean back. He’s giving it space. And you can see that so much is contained in two shots rather than one shot. I think that’s really powerful.”
Thorne reflected on the “joy” of working with young, emerging talent and admitted he still gets emotional when reflecting on Piggy’s death.
“I cry every time. I cry every time I see this,” he said. “Every time I watch it, I see new details in the faces of the two actors.”
Watch the video above.
