YouTube's first foray into original programming, actually brings back two Harry Potter franchise alums, Tom Felton and Natalia Tena, who played Draco Malfoy and Nymphadora Tonks in the popular film franchise. Because it's difficult (if not impossible) to totally break away from the Harry Potter fandom, Felton's character in the magical world has already been compared to his character in the new series Origin he is about to star in. While it's fun to make connections between fandoms, Tom Felton revealed at Comic-Con this week that we shouldn't be comparing his new characters with the old. He said they have "very little" in common, noting,
One was a wizard with crap parents, the other one is a petty drug dealer from California. I really could not line those up in any situation. I suppose they might look somewhat similar. My eyes are still the same color. Other than that, I wouldn't really draw too much of a comparison. He's not the friendliest person in the world, I suppose we could say that.
In Origin, Tom Felton actually plays an American who is one of 11 individuals to wake up on a space ship after the rest of the ship's crew and passengers have left. As those left behind try to figure out what happened, we also get to learn more about their backgrounds, which are fairly intense. In fact, the first look at Origin showed audiences a scene set in Tokyo where Sen Mitsuji's character ends up heading into space after getting in with bad people, a decision which directly led to his brother's death. YouTube's first foray into television sports a global cast, including Tom Felton, Natalia Tena, Nora Arnezeder, and Adelayo Adedayo, and Sen Mitsuji, among others. Mika Watkins created the series, and Resident Evil's Paul W.S. Anderson is directing the first two episodes of the series.
Tom Felton also revealed what he felt was one of the most fascinating parts of Origin, noting that it's exactly the show's international cast and settings that will set the YouTube series apart from other programs TV has offered in the past.
To see each character's previous story, and largely speaking it's in a different language, different setting, cultural background, really. I've never seen a show do that before, so I'm very excited to see how that lands for audiences.
In general, the series will shuffle back from moments on the space ship, where a great mystery will unfold, and moments in major cities on Earth, which were changed using practical effects to make them look as if they hail from the future. In a lot of ways, Origin will be building a whole new version of our world, much like Harry Potter did do so many years ago, but the paths are very different. From the clip shown at Comic-Con, this will be science fiction with jump scares, and Tom Felton's character is right in the middle of it.
Origin will premiere on YouTube Premium later in 2018. To find out what else is coming together in the magical world of television, you can take a look at our full premiere schedule. And stay tuned for more news from the great halls, rooms and ballrooms of 2018 Comic-Con.
