“It’s the only thing I’ve ever done that I’d describe, without feeling embarrassed, as hard work,” Joel Wilson of Eleven Film said when discussing his role as an executive producer on Jack Thorne’s Lord of the Flies adaptation.
Wilson was speaking on a panel at the Thessaloniki Film Festival, where the series is screening this weekend.
Wilson added: “It was genuinely physically tough and psychologically rigorous. But the creative process was the most joyful one I’ve ever been involved in.”
The four-part series, based on William Golding’s novel of the same name, launched on the BBC in the UK in February and started streaming on Netflix in the U.S. in May. Adolescence co-creator and Emmy winner Thorne adapted the book for the screen.
Wilson told the audience in Thessaloniki that the process began many years earlier, when he unsuccessfully contacted Golding’s estate to enquire about purchasing the Lord of the Flies TV rights.
“I hadn’t done very much, and they politely told me to come back later,” Wilson joked. “So I did, again and again. Eventually, we made Sex Education, and our reputation had grown since the first time I’d called them.”
Wilson added that he later developed a relationship with the agent who owned the stage rights to the book, whom he called “every six months”, and later tipped him off about a potential quirk in the book’s copyright contracts that could open the door for a TV adaptation.
“Warner Bros. owned the rights and had tried to remake it several times without success,” Wilson explained. “It was unclear in the original contract whether Warner Bros. owned the film and television rights or only the film rights because the idea of making Lord of the Flies for television wouldn’t have been considered at the time.”
Wilson said the Golding family retained the TV rights and, miraculously, around the same time, Thorne, whom he had worked with before, mentioned his interest in adapting the book.
“I’d offered him another project he didn’t want to do, and said, ‘If you don’t want to do that, how am I ever going to get you to work with me again?’” Golding said of the conversation he had with Thorne.
“He responded, ‘If you can get the rights to Lord of the Flies, I’ll do that.’ It’s one of the only moments in my life I’d genuinely describe as serendipitous. I nearly fell off my chair and said, ‘I’m speaking to the family about it now. Can I email them on Monday with Jack Thorne—Lord of the Flies in the subject line? He said, Absolutely.”
Wilson explained that with Thorne attached, the project quickly picked up momentum.
“We then pitched it to the BBC. It was the first time this had happened to me, though it seems to happen to everyone else: We went in and said, ‘Jack wants to make Lord of the Flies. Are you in?’ They said, ‘Yes, please,’” Wilson recalled. “There wasn’t even a script, but the vision was very clear, and they greenlit it.”
Marc Munden (The Mark of Cain, National Treasure) directed the series, with Wilson executive producing alongside his Eleven colleague Jamie Campbell and Thorne. Hans Zimmer provided music for the series, which was nominated for two Emmys.
“I think we managed to do exactly what we set out to do: protect the vision Jack and Mark had, which relates so closely to the original novel,” Wilson said of the series. “I’m glad to say Judy, William Golding’s daughter, was delighted with it. That was one of the most important things, because the book was so precious to her.”
The 2026 Thessaloniki Film Festival runs until November 15.
