Jonathan van Tulleken, executive producer and director of Apple TV+ series The Changeling, discusses the captivating parental story that links old legend and magic to modern-day New York.
The series is based on European legend about changelings, who are depicted as dreadful offspring of fairies or elves who are abandoned in place of human newborns abducted by other fairies. LaKeith Stanfield and Clark Backo star as Apollo and Emma in the series.
In an interview with EW, he talks the theme of parenthood in the series. “It really spoke to me a lot about new parenthood, about expectations on fathers, expectations on mothers, the gender imbalance still in parenthood. There are really interesting [themes] in terms of motherhood and particularly Black parenthood.”
He the continues, “We get to use the genre to explore those issues, as those origin changeling stories were probably trying to do,” van Tulleken says. “They were probably also trying to explore things that people didn’t understand in childbirth and in child rearing.”
Van Tulleken teases Apollo and Emma’s perilous journey ahead, “What starts off as a small love story blooms out into a huge mythic fairytale.”
The Changeling premieres on Apple TV+ on September 8, with new episodes released every Friday.
