Jack Thorne, one of the creators and writers of the hit Netflix series “Adolescence,” addressed online criticism about the show’s casting during an appearance on the “News Agents” podcast on March 26.
The four-episode series follows a teenage boy who is arrested after he stabs and kills a classmate. Thorne, who co-wrote the script with Stephen Graham, spoke about the casting of Owen Cooper as 13-year-old Jamie Miller, as well as the show’s real-life inspiration.
“They’ve claimed that Stephen and I based it on a story or another story, and so they’re saying that we race-swapped it,” Thorne said. “And nothing’s further from the truth.”
Thorne added that he has worked on telling true stories in his professional career, and he has seen “the harm that can come when you take elements for real life story and you put it on screen, and people aren’t expecting it.”
“There is no part of this that’s based on a true story, not one single part,” Thorne said.
Thorne was then asked for his reaction to the criticism that a Black boy should have been cast in “Adolescence.”
“It’s absurd to say that this is only committed by Black boys, like it’s absurd. It’s not true. And history shows a lot of cases of kids from all races committing these crimes,” Thorne said. “We’re not making a point about race with this. We are making a point about masculinity. We’re trying to get inside a problem. We’re not saying this is one thing or another. We’re saying this is about boys.”
The series premiered on Netflix on March 13, and quickly rose to the top of the most-watched charts on the streaming platform.
Since its release, the show’s creators have said it is not based on an individual event, but rather by several incidents that have happened in the U.K.
Stephen Graham, the show’s co-creator who also played Eddie Miller, told Netflix’s press site Tudum that a headline inspired the show’s premise.
“There was an incident where a young boy (allegedly) stabbed a girl,” Graham said. “It shocked me. I was thinking, ‘What’s going on? What’s happening in society where a boy stabs a girl to death? What’s the inciting incident here?’ And then it happened again, and it happened again, and it happened again. I really just wanted to shine a light on it, and ask, ‘Why is this happening today? What’s going on? How have we come to this?’”
Thorne, in his interview, did not specify individual critiques, although Elon Musk weighed in on one.
A post on X said “Adolescence” was “based on real life cases” like Axel Rudakubana, who was sentenced to a minimum of 52 years in prison after he killed three young girls in a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport, England.
Calling the show “anti-white propaganda,” the post also said the show “race swapped the actual killer from a black man/migrant to a white boy.”
Musk replied to the post, writing, “Wow.”
