By Dan Skip Allen

When I was in high school in tenth grade, my class read the novel “Lord of the Flies” from author William Golding. Ever since, I’ve always regarded it as a seminal novel for high school kids to read. It deals with a lot of adult topics, considering it’s about a group of private school kids who get stranded on an abandoned island in the South Pacific Ocean. I felt kids should read this book because of its adult themes and subplots about building a government and not getting along with or agreeing with everyone. It’s one of the most relevant texts I’ve ever read. It’s still a very relevant book today considering what is going on in our society. This new version on BBC and Netflix has come out at a perfect time once again for teens to learn about these topics. I highly recommend the streaming series.

The series starts with Chapter 1 called Piggy after the first boy who is shown. Piggy (David McKenna) awakes in the middle of a jungle where he starts to roam around and finds he’s on an island. He starts to look for food and water and finds water and another boy named Ralph (Winston Sawyers). They become friends and start to navigate the island. They end up finding a conch shell, which they blow, and one by one, they see new boys coming out of the woods and onto the beach where they are standing. They get a vote going to determine their leader and start to develop a society with rules and roles for each of the boys. Ralph is a voted leader, but Jack (Lox Pratt) didn’t like how things went. He is a decenter among the group. 

The chapters are all named after four of the boys in the group. Three of which I’ve mentioned, and the fourth is Simon (Ike Talbut). Jack Thorne the creator and writer of the series had kept close to the source material and the Simon character gets fleshed out more in Chapter 3 but he’s a bit of an enigma up until this point in the series. Mostly, the show focuses on the power struggle between Jack and Ralph with Piggy on Ralph’s side, so Jack is always outnumbered. He doesn’t get a foothold on the group until he finds a journal from one of the deceased pilots. This helps him develop a language and ideals to go off of. That’s dangerous for the overall collective.

The directors in the series have chosen to give a specific look and feel to the show. One of the things that is very distinct about the series is the cinematography. The show has an absolutely gorgeous look to it. The island is filmed in a way that accentuates the colors of the flora and fawna. The color of the green trees jumps off the screen, as well as the turquoise blue waters and blue sky and tan sand. Mark Wolf made sure the vivid colors of the show would stand out in contrast to the weird things like flies, bloody pigs, and other odd looking bugs and see life. He also added dream sequences that have a different look to determine that they aren’t in real time. Neither are the flashbacks that pop up periodically. The look of the show is one of its best parts.

With any society, there are going to be problems. Who gives orders and are the orders giving something the group wants to do. With any camping or survival situation, building a shelter is of most importance. Starting a fire is another thing that should be done in situations like this. In the context of the show, these things are very difficult decisions. Two distinct groups are because one doesn’t want to be led by the other, and this causes a lot of problems on the island. Talk of a beast is something that causes major issues amongst both tribes of kids. Simon is caught in the middle. He starts to succumb to the elements, and his mind is going crazy. This is an issue.

“Lord of the Flies” is the first of many films/television series about people being stranded on an island. “Gilligans Island, “ “Castaway”, and more recently, “Send Help” shows a different aspect of life on a secluded island. Some of them take a humorous outlook on this, and others take a horrific perspective on this kind of story. “Castaway” is sort of in the middle. There are a lot of different characters in this series, though. Leaders and followers. The other shows and films were basically one or two people. This being a larger group causes a different set of problems. Disagreements inevitably crop up.

Going all the way back hundreds of years to the native Americans or even further back in the planet’s history, aboriginal tribes and civilizations from various continents have formed. Each having different ideals and using specific things that are important to them. How they determine leadership, religious ditties, and society rules is always interesting. Golding tapped into history and created a society with a mix of a lot of others within it. The story shows the different types of groups that could form in a society such as this. Thorne, in turn, adapted his work very well. I feel this is a very good adaptation of this story. The odd part is that it’s still so relevant in society today. It has weird ideas and people who won’t listen to reason. Does that ring any bells for those who watch this show? I think so.

“Lord of the Flies” is a stark reminder that having a society of different viewpoints isn’t a good thing but sometimes is necessary. Having an ability to speak your mind and vote for leaders is also very necessary in civilized society. Using children to help tell this story was a good way to show the innocence of their ideas and minds, but even they have enough intelligence to figure things out. They know right from wrong, but the situation they found themselves in was a very difficult one for everybody. Thorne made the story very modern in context to today’s events in America and England. He used the text but made it very clear that this is a very up to date story still all these years later. The cast was terrific, but the four boys cast in the main roles were all fantastic. They were all very well cast. This is a very necessary show for kids and adults who may have read the book as teenagers themselves. They should definitely share this with their children to show them how relevant it still is today. This is one of the best shows I’ve seen all year. Hopefully, it’ll translate to Emmy awards buzz later this year.

Lord of the Flies (Series) is streaming on Netflix starting May 4th, 2026

4 ½ stars