‘The Institute’ Bosses on Finding Inspiration in Teens Demanding Political Action After School Shootings and Planning a Season 2 Beyond Stephen King’s Book
SPOILER ALERT: This post contains minor spoilers from “The Boy,” the Season 1 premiere of “The Institute,” now streaming on MGM+.
What if society didn’t act in the best interest of children?
That’s a central thesis of writer Benjamin Cavell and director Jack Bender, the central creative forces and executive producers behind the new Stephen King adaptation “The Institute,” which has its linear premiere on July 13 on MGM+. While they aren’t new to the world of King adaptations — with Cavell co-developing the 2020 “The Stand” miniseries, and Bender executive producing and directing much of the 2017 “Mr. Mercedes” series — Bender says this 2019 book, about children with supernatural abilities who are kidnapped by a shadowy government agency, moved him deeply in the wake of real-life national tragedy.
“About a year before I read it, it was the Parkland school massacre,” Bender says. “Even though there were numerous school tragedies that had happened before that one, I remember seeing the young people who survived that tragedy become this political force in high school. They stood up and said to all the politicians, ‘You have all screwed up. We know how to save it. Get out of our way. This is our life and our world, and we’re gonna fix it.’ When I saw that I went, ‘You’re damn right, we have screwed up. Look at the world now.’ I remember when Ben decided to first join me in this adventure. I had said the phrase ‘The meek shall inherit the earth,’ but in this case it’s ‘Children shall inherit the earth, but first they have to save themselves.'”
Cavell agrees that the political drive of younger generations helped to add an extra layer of urgency to the series.
“I’m always struck by how politicians of every stripe claim that just about everything they’re doing is for the kids, protecting the kids,” he says. “And yet almost none of them ever consult the kids about what they need or what they want. I loved that this story had not just the kids at its center, but kids having to come together to save themselves. There’s no action hero riding to the rescue, who hears that kids are being victims and comes in to save them.”
This struggle of the younger generation reverberates through “The Institute.” Many of the teens who play key characters are new to acting, including lead Joe Freeman, who plays the gifted Luke, the audience’s introduction to the world. Bender says that by casting fresh faces, their lack of TV or film experience left them with “great instincts” about their roles. He first felt the electricity when Freeman had a key early scene opposite Institute headmistress Ms. Sigsby, played by veteran actor Mary-Louise Parker.
“The first day Joe had that essential scene where Luke first meets Ms. Sigsby, and it’s a five-page, brilliantly written scene,” Bender says. “She sits behind her desk, he sits in the chair, and yet it’s riveting, however many times I’ve seen it. When we were done with the day, Joe said, ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe I was so nervous about acting with Mary-Louise Parker and how much I adore her.’ I said, ‘I gotta tell you, I never felt it from you, and I can read people pretty well. That’s part of my job.’ But he is just following his instinct, and as an actor, he is so extraordinary. The eccentricity of what he brings to it now, the camera loves him.”
Although this season of “The Institute” covers King’s book, Cavell and Bender are eager to go deeper into the lore beyond the text should the opportunity arise for a second season.
“It’s always been on our minds from the beginning,” Cavell says. “The book is clearly designed to have more. It ends with this sense that there’s a much larger conspiracy and larger world outside of what we’ve seen, so we wanted to preserve that ending for our season. Obviously, we don’t end exactly the same way, but we wanted to preserve that scene, that there is much more to be explored. We’ve certainly talked a lot and thought a lot about where it would go, and I have talked a bunch to Stephen about what he thinks about it and where he sees it going. So if there is a demand for more, we would love to make more.”
Watch the trailer for “The Institute” below.
What if society didn’t act in the best interest of children?
That’s a central thesis of writer Benjamin Cavell and director Jack Bender, the central creative forces and executive producers behind the new Stephen King adaptation “The Institute,” which has its linear premiere on July 13 on MGM+. While they aren’t new to the world of King adaptations — with Cavell co-developing the 2020 “The Stand” miniseries, and Bender executive producing and directing much of the 2017 “Mr. Mercedes” series — Bender says this 2019 book, about children with supernatural abilities who are kidnapped by a shadowy government agency, moved him deeply in the wake of real-life national tragedy.
“About a year before I read it, it was the Parkland school massacre,” Bender says. “Even though there were numerous school tragedies that had happened before that one, I remember seeing the young people who survived that tragedy become this political force in high school. They stood up and said to all the politicians, ‘You have all screwed up. We know how to save it. Get out of our way. This is our life and our world, and we’re gonna fix it.’ When I saw that I went, ‘You’re damn right, we have screwed up. Look at the world now.’ I remember when Ben decided to first join me in this adventure. I had said the phrase ‘The meek shall inherit the earth,’ but in this case it’s ‘Children shall inherit the earth, but first they have to save themselves.'”
Cavell agrees that the political drive of younger generations helped to add an extra layer of urgency to the series.
“I’m always struck by how politicians of every stripe claim that just about everything they’re doing is for the kids, protecting the kids,” he says. “And yet almost none of them ever consult the kids about what they need or what they want. I loved that this story had not just the kids at its center, but kids having to come together to save themselves. There’s no action hero riding to the rescue, who hears that kids are being victims and comes in to save them.”
This struggle of the younger generation reverberates through “The Institute.” Many of the teens who play key characters are new to acting, including lead Joe Freeman, who plays the gifted Luke, the audience’s introduction to the world. Bender says that by casting fresh faces, their lack of TV or film experience left them with “great instincts” about their roles. He first felt the electricity when Freeman had a key early scene opposite Institute headmistress Ms. Sigsby, played by veteran actor Mary-Louise Parker.
“The first day Joe had that essential scene where Luke first meets Ms. Sigsby, and it’s a five-page, brilliantly written scene,” Bender says. “She sits behind her desk, he sits in the chair, and yet it’s riveting, however many times I’ve seen it. When we were done with the day, Joe said, ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe I was so nervous about acting with Mary-Louise Parker and how much I adore her.’ I said, ‘I gotta tell you, I never felt it from you, and I can read people pretty well. That’s part of my job.’ But he is just following his instinct, and as an actor, he is so extraordinary. The eccentricity of what he brings to it now, the camera loves him.”
Although this season of “The Institute” covers King’s book, Cavell and Bender are eager to go deeper into the lore beyond the text should the opportunity arise for a second season.
“It’s always been on our minds from the beginning,” Cavell says. “The book is clearly designed to have more. It ends with this sense that there’s a much larger conspiracy and larger world outside of what we’ve seen, so we wanted to preserve that ending for our season. Obviously, we don’t end exactly the same way, but we wanted to preserve that scene, that there is much more to be explored. We’ve certainly talked a lot and thought a lot about where it would go, and I have talked a bunch to Stephen about what he thinks about it and where he sees it going. So if there is a demand for more, we would love to make more.”
Watch the trailer for “The Institute” below.