Netflix’s latest film adaptation follows the YA fantasy novel franchise ‘The School for Good and Evil’. It’s truly good and evil, heroes and villains, everything has been determined by relatively one ideal character. In most fantasy films, the idea of a clash between both ideals forms the basis for the plot.
This holds true for classics like Harry Potter, Once Upon a Time and The Forbidden Forest. In the last five years, Netflix has made an effort to swell its repertoire of fantasy novels and graphic novel adaptations, having debuted The Umbrella Academy¸
The Witcher, Warrior Nun, Cursed, Locke & Key, and Letter for the King. The next in line is The School for Good and Evil, a film adaptation based on Soman Chainani’s best-selling YA hexalogy of books. Fans of the book series will be thrilled to learn that their favourite book is hitting the screens. Unlike most film adaptations where the story in the book more or less matches up with the film adaptation, this time there is a major twist that will let fans experience the movie differently.
The highly anticipated movie of 2022, The School for Good and Evil has been stuck in development hell since 2013 when Joe Roth’s Roth Films teamed up with Jane Startz to acquire the rights to produce the film. Universal Pictures won the auction for the book and scriptwriting fees and brought Roth, Startz, and Palak Patel as producers. Not much progress happened after that, in part due to the pandemic, until Netflix stepped in and took over from Universal Pictures to turn the series into a feature film.
The School for Good and Evil follows the life of two young girls who are taken away to a school that trains children to be villains and heroes. Though friends, these girls couldn’t be any more different, with one having a grim and creepy personality while the other has dreams of being a fairytale princess. Check out this guide to find out everything we know so far about The School for Good and Evil, including the cast, release window, and teaser trailer.
The School for Good and Evil: Release Date
The School for Good and Evil is set to be released on October 21, 2022. The movie will be available exclusively on Netflix.
Netflix released a teaser trailer that shows the first sneak peek into the film in June 2022. The voice of Charlize Theron comes alive as she narrates most of the short teaser. There are scenes of the main characters Agatha and Sophie being kidnapped and taken to school by some sort of flying creature. The young Sophie, while mid-air, recognizes that their destination must be the much-talked-about School. Excited, she turns to the bewildered Agatha to remind her that they are truly being whisked away to the school of her dreams. The full-length trailer was released in September 2022, and you can check it out below:
The School for Good and Evil: Trailer
The film is based on Soman Chainani’s fantasy book hexalogy. The School for Good and Evil is the first book in Chainani’s series, which was published in 2013. The book has sold more than 2.5 million copies and has been translated into 30 languages across six continents. Chainani has been brought on to serve as an executive producer and was consulted with the adaptation, which he has described as a “very different animal” as compared to the book. So it looks like the movie will follow a different plotline but in keeping with the spirit of the novel.
Paul Feig serves as the director. Feig’s directorial portfolio includes Bridesmaids, Spy, A Simple Favor, and the rebooted Ghostbusters. After Netflix purchased the rights to the film from Universal Pictures, they brought in David Magee and Laura Solon as screenwriters in 2017. Fiona Weir who has got experience with popular fantasy films such as Harry Potter, Love, Actually, The Golden Compass, and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is the casting director. The movie was filmed in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and completed production in July 2021.
The School for Good and Evil: Plot
The story film follows the life of two young friends, Sophie and Agatha. Sophie is the quintessential pink-wearing, fun-loving, pretty sweetheart. While she has dreams of leaving her village to join the likes of Cinderella and Snow White, her friend Agatha is different. Not liked by many people, she lives in the village graveyard with her mum, who is also the village witch. Unlike Sophie, Agatha is basically a social outcast. Despite these differences, they are the best of friends.
In their little village, they realize that strange disappearances occur on a certain day every year. The suspicion is that the two kids that vanish each year are stolen away by The School Master which places them in two castles – one for Good and one for Evil. Sophie begins to fantasize about being taken by The School Master to learn how to become a princess, while Agatha isn’t overtly interested and would prefer for her and her friend to be left alone. She knows that if there ever is such a disappearance, she is destined to be a witch. When the inevitable happens and both girls have swept away, there is a mix-up that changes their lives forever.
Here is the trailer:
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