By Ben Travis | Posted 10 Jun 2019

If you watched Jim Henson and Frank Oz’s puppet fantasy The Dark Crystal in the ‘80s, there’s a high chance it freaked you right out and buried itself somewhere deep in your subconscious. With all kinds of unsettling imagery – from the sinister Skesis, to the ostensibly good but still creepy-looking Gelflings – it’s a work of both incredible creativity and nightmarish moments. And now thanks to Netflix fans will be returning to the land of Thra in TV series The Dark Crystal: Age Of Resistance – an all-out puppet extravaganza bringing a whole new era of the fantasy world to the small screen, taking place 1000 years before the original movie.

In the new issue of Pilot TV, on sale Thurs 13 June with the latest Empire, we take a fresh look at the hugely-anticipated revival – and here’s an exclusive new look at the Skesis.

According to director Louis Leterrier, the series is a hugely ambitious undertaking in the medium of puppetry. “We are throwing everything at this,” he tells Pilot TV. “Nobody’s fooled by CG any more. We know when something is CG. Puppets, we know someone had to [work them]… And we’re pushing puppeteering beyond anything anyone has done before.” And for anyone who’s not up to speed on their Dark Crystal lore? “Even if you haven’t seen the movie, it’s still really exciting,” he assures.

Read more about The Dark Crystal: Age Of Resistance in the new issue of Pilot TV, hitting newsstands with Empire’s Once Upon A Time In Hollywood issue on Thursday 13 June. The series arrives on Netflix on 30 August.

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