Netflix releases a first-look image of Florence Pugh from The Wonder, now filming in Ireland

Sebastian Lelio (A Fantastic Woman) is directing the adaptation of Emma Donoghue’s novel, with cast including Florence Pugh, Tom Burke, Niamh Algar, Elaine Cassidy, Kíla Lord Cassidy, Toby Jones, Ciarán Hinds, Dermot Crowley, Brían F. O’Byrne and David Wilmot. Emma Donoghue was born in Dublin, but now lives in Canada. She adapted her book, which is based on the so-called fasting girls that fascinated the Victorians.

It’s a poignant, if potentially eerie story (as summarised in the Deadline report):

Set in The Irish Midlands in 1862, the story follows a young girl who stops eating but remains miraculously alive and well. English nurse Lib Wright is brought to a tiny village to observe eleven-year old Anna O’Donnell. Tourists and pilgrims mass to witness the girl who is said to have survived without food for months. Is the village harbouring a saint ‘surviving on manna from heaven’ or are there more ominous motives at work?

Florence Pugh was most recently seen on screen in Black Widow, and has also just finished filming Oscar Wilde’s Don’t Worry Darling.

The Wonder is the first commission from Fiona Lamptey (Attack the Block) in her role as Netflix director of UK features. It is due for release in 2022.