In the magical, genre-bending series Boy Swallows Universe, a 13-year-old boy battles the demons that haunt his family as he barrels toward adulthood. The show, based on the book of the same name by bestselling author Trent Dalton, was inspired by Dalton’s own atypical childhood in Brisbane, Australia. The coming-of-age story with a crime-thriller edge, written by John Collee (Hotel Mumbai), swiftly landed in Netflix’s Global Top 10 after its Jan. 11 premiere.
Tudum talked with one of the series’ directors, Bharat Nalluri (Shantaram), and one of the executive producers, Andrew Mason (Dark City, Water Diviner), about the finale and what it all means. Nalluri directed Boy Swallows Universe alongside Jocelyn Moorhouse (The Dressmaker) and Kim Mordaunt (The Rocket). Mason executive produced the series alongside Troy Lum.
Read on for a conversation with Nalluri and Mason about the final episode, and check out this guide for everything else you need to know.
In the first episode, Gus Bell (Lee Tiger Halley) introduces young Eli Bell (Felix Cameron) to the otherworldly red phone, which is revisited throughout the series. What that phone means has become a hotly debated question for fans of the series. What’s your take on it?
Nalluri: It was the first thing I asked Trent Dalton: What is that red phone and what does it mean? He says it’s [Eli’s] subconscious. It’s his trauma ringing him and warning him, telling him things aren’t right, and he should watch out.
In my head, it’s a reflection of Eli, his thoughts and internal process. For example, in some instances, it could be Eli from the future with a warning, and you see him have to process this “is it true or not true, real or not real?” dilemma. In the show, we intentionally left it quite open-ended because we want to give the audience a chance to decide what it means to them.
Mason: As well as not answering this question in the show, we also provide a slightly more direct hint as to our view — and that hint is in the voice we chose to be at the other end of the phone line.
The disappearance and death of Eli Bell’s stepfather, Lyle (Travis Fimmel), were pivotal moments in the series and seemed crucial to Eli’s character development. What went into the decision to make this the end of the road for Lyle’s character?
Nalluri: The story is based on Trent Dalton’s brilliant novel, and we were keen to keep much of the show truthful to the book, which is the case with Lyle’s disappearance. I suspect this moment goes back to Trent’s life, which the story is loosely inspired by, where his mother and stepfather were actually ripped away from him and sent to prison. To him, that probably felt like a death in the family the same way the audience feels when Lyle’s fate becomes unknown.
It’s a critical moment because not only does it allow the story to move on from Lyle to [Eli’s father] Robert Bell as the central male figure, but it was important to showcase early on that this is a high-stakes world this child and his family are living in — no one is safe.
Travis Fimmel as Lyle Orlik and Felix Cameron as young Eli Bell in Boy Swallows Universe
Let’s talk about the blue wren. At some points it seems real — like when it hits the window at Tytus’ (Anthony LaPaglia) house and Caitlyn Spies (Sophie Wilde) holds it. Other times, it seems symbolic, like when Ivan Kroll (Christopher James Baker) steps on it in the finale and it disappears. How did you interpret these? What’s the meaning of the blue wren?
Nalluri: To me, the blue wren is a reflection of Eli Bell and his state of being. At the beginning, he’s chirpy, happy, and feels like he belongs, so you see the wren in places like the roof of the home. As the story progresses and his world becomes increasingly complicated, we see more motifs of the wren in chaos — flying away, crashing into windows — to almost mirror what Eli is going through.
Mason: In choreographing the action in that bell tower scene, we decided it was important to really make the audience feel that Eli was going to die — and the blue wren being crushed was the way to link that to the more magical aspects of the story. Of course Eli survives, but so does the blue wren. Sharp-eyed viewers may see it happily skipping on the windowsill as the camera pulls out in the last shot.
The finale had some gruesome moments, especially during the walk-through of Tytus’ organ-harvesting lab — the bloody curtains, caged animals, body parts in jars. What went into creating Tytus’ evil lair?
Mason: Production designer Michelle McGahey did a superb job of translating Trent’s descriptions to the set, and it’s enhanced with various [visual effects] additions to increase the unsettling nature of the space.
Nalluri: Kim Mordaunt, who directed the episode, struck the perfect balance of showing just enough… without it feeling overexposed or exploitative. The sound mixing was also crucial in the fear-building.
Anthony LaPaglia as Tytus Broz in Boy Swallows Universe
On that note, we find out that part of drug lord and philanthropist Tytus’ prosthetics business involves harvesting body parts — and that he has dismembered heads on display in his secret bunker, including Lyle’s. Was this row of heads a sort of trophy wall, or did he have something else planned?
Nalluri: Tytus is ultimately motivated from his own personal tragedy, and I believe that in the beginning he actually wanted to make the world a better place and help people through his quest to create artificial limbs and body parts. Somewhere along the way, his sense of goodness warped into a place of evil and darkness.
Mason: The heads are simply the most extreme part of Tytus’ collection of body parts — the beginning of his theory that parts might be “farmed.” Clearly he has long ago lost his way and now uses his power in a very disturbing way.
The last episode of the show epitomizes its knack for blurring genres, seamlessly transitioning from heartfelt moments to tense action. What were your inspirations for the way the finale looked and felt?
Nalluri: The whole series is such a mash-up of genres — fantasy, drama, crime, horror — that really shouldn’t work together. It does so because, at the heart of it, you have this boy and family you care so much about. You almost let that fantastical element go because you believe Eli, and you want to see him have a happy ending. Because of that central heart, we can throw in and rip apart every genre and still keep the story at the centre.
Mason: We knew from the book that the shift in tone required to pull off that ending would be quite tricky, but [we] all felt that as long as we held to the principle that all the members of the Bell family truly care for each other and will defend each other to the death, then the energy and heart of the characters would carry us through.
Nalluri: To be honest, we couldn’t do this anywhere else… any other studio would have told us to keep it as a drama or ditch the fantasy.
Sophie Wilde as Caitlyn Spies in Boy Swallows Universe
In the last episode, teenage Eli (Zac Burgess) and Caitlyn break into Tytus’ bunker; Gus’ eerie visions come to fruition; Ivan dies; and Eli and his father, Robert (Simon Baker), are nearly killed. Were there any alternate versions of the ending — or the end of anyone’s stories — that you’d considered?
Mason: If you have read Trent’s much beloved book, you will see that the series has been very faithful to it. We wanted to honor what that book means to so many people. We certainly feel that we’ve given a satisfying ending of the emotional path of these central characters, and hopefully this ending reflects the eternal optimism which is such an important part of Trent’s book — and life.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
