‘Lord of the Flies’ Creator Jack Thorne On Not Judging the Boys’ Behavior

Would you be able to adapt one of your favorite stories from growing up? Would you even be able to look at it with a fresh perspective? Lord of the Flies‘ creator Jack Thorne knew that he wanted to try his hand at bringing William Golding’s novel to television since it was a text that has stuck with him since his initial reading of it. What better time than after Thorne’s mega-successful run during last year’s Emmy season with a particular angry young man at the center of his last limited series. Lord of the Rings is primal, dark, and startlingly relatable, and Thorne knew that he could not pass judgment on the adolescence of these young men even though they were tapping into something wholly sinister and alarming.

Flies has been adapted previously into a feature film three separate times, and it’s even been brought to the stage. Even though every episode features the full cast of young men, Thorne opts to focus each chapter through the eyes of one of the main kids: it begins with Piggy before shifting to Jack then Simon before then it concludes with Ralph. The series opens with Piggy (an excellent David McKenna) before he meets an equally confused but enthusiastic Ralph, and, in some ways, you imagine these boys meeting in school or on the streets walking home. We wonder if they could have been friends if they met in a normal setting, and Thorne’s introductory scene of their friendship almost makes us forget that they are stranded and lost.

Most audiences assume that Jack is commanding because of his home life, but Thorne insists on going deeper. We discuss how Jack watches the parents of his fellow classmates dote upon them before they leave for school, and Jack stands firm, almost as if he is trying to figure out what the physical affection means. Many people place speculation on the relationship between Jack and Simon, but it feels like Thorne has created something entirely different. Is Jack’s rage the truest form of himself? Is he simply playing macho or are we watching a boy’s psyche get twisted by that mixture of freedom and power before our very eyes? I propose to Thorne that Jack keeps Simon’s journal not because he wants to hide their relationship but because Jack doesn’t have any other evidence that someone cared for him.

Perhaps Thorne cannot judge the boys stranded on the island, because they are experimenting with a kind of independence that they never thought they would gain. Being left to their own survival is different than thinking of how you will be when you grow up. There is a reason why we keep coming back to this story time and time again, but Thorne’s guidance is never careless and always considerate.

Lord of the Flies is streaming now on Netflix.