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Geek Girl Authority
16-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Girl Authority
Jane Luk Archives
Categories Select Category Games GGA Columns Movies Stuff We Like The Daily Bugle TV & Streaming Horror Interviews Stuff We Like TV & Streaming We had the privilege of chatting with Jane Luk about her recurring role on MGM+'s The Institute and what fans can expect from the Stephen King adaptation. Read on for our interview.
Geek Girl Authority
16-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Girl Authority
THE INSTITUTE's Viggo Hanvelt Talks Playing Avery in New Horror Series
It's time for a Stephen King Summer. MGM+ has blessed us with an adaptation of King's 2019 novel The Institute , and the eight-episode series promises a high-octane, horror-fueled mystery. It juggles two storylines: the titular Institute, run by the mysterious Ms. Sigsby (Mary-Louise Parker), and haunted former police officer Tim Jamieson (Ben Barnes). Avery, played by Viggo Hanvelt, is an inmate of the Institute — the youngest and most powerful of them all. Recently, I had the privilege of chatting with Viggo about playing Avery, what viewers can expect from The Institute and more. RELATED: Jane Luk on Playing in the Horror Sandbox That Is The Institute Viggo Hanvelt Pictured: Viggo Hanvelt Melody McCune: We at GGA love a good origin story. How did you get into acting? Viggo Hanvelt: I got into acting because my brother and sister have been actors since before I was born. I love to see them act. When I got my first audition, I was super excited. And then I got my first part — it was amazing. So, I started acting more until I got this part, which is the best of the best. MM: Let's talk about The Institute . Can you tell me what it's about? VH: The Institute is about a place where they bring kids with supernatural abilities, either telepathy or telekinesis. They try to, basically, torture the kids. Avery in The Institute MM: How does your character, Avery, fit into the story? VH: Avery's young and energetic. He acts like a six-year-old or an eight-year-old, but he matures over the course of the show. He's a great character and the strongest of them all. RELATED: Ben Barnes and Joe Freeman on Starring in The Institute MM: What can audiences expect when they watch the show? VH: Audiences can expect a wonderful, entertaining, thrilling plot from a show that always keeps you guessing the next move. MM: Describe The Institute using three words. VH: Thrilling. Interesting. Dark. MM: Do you share any similarities with your character? VH: My character's actually quite different from how I act, but he understands what's going on. He understands that he needs to help them get out by using his powers. That's his top priority. Pictured: Viggo Hanvelt MM: What was your favorite part about filming this show? VH: There were quite a few dark scenes that were super fun, but there was this one scene where I had to eat licorice. I only needed to take one bite, but we did the scene so many times, I ate five packets of licorice. Everybody loves candy. RELATED: Stephen King's The Institute Gets Official Trailer MM: Have you watched anything fun lately? VH: I watched a murder mystery recently — it isn't a scary one. It's called The Residence , and it's about a murder in the White House. It was super interesting and really entertaining. You can watch Viggo as Avery in new episodes of The Institute when they drop on Sundays on MGM+. Samantha Brown on FROM Season 3 and Playing Acosta Contact: [email protected] What I do: I'm GGA's Managing Editor, a Senior Contributor, and Press Coordinator. I manage, contribute, and coordinate. Sometimes all at once. Joking aside, I oversee day-to-day operations for GGA, write, edit, and assess interview opportunities/press events. Who I am: Before moving to Los Angeles after studying theater in college, I was born and raised in Amish country, Ohio. No, I am not Amish, even if I sometimes sport a modest bonnet. Bylines in: Tell-Tale TV, Culturess, Sideshow Collectibles, and inkMend on Medium. Critic: Rotten Tomatoes, CherryPicks, and the Hollywood Creative Alliance.
Yahoo
13-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Stephen King's 'The Institute' sets gifted children against nefarious adults
"The Institute," a 2019 novel by Stephen King, Maine's Master of the Macabre — or horror, I just said macabre for the alliteration — has become a miniseries with some major additions and minor emendations. Premiering Sunday on MGM+, it belongs to a popular genre in which superpowerful young'uns are gathered in some sort of academy, and more specifically to one in which children with extraordinary powers are weaponized by adults for … reasons. They always have reasons, those cruel adults. The child at the center of the story is 14-year-old Luke Ellis (Joe Freeman, who shoulders a lot of dramatic weight), a genius with a mostly untapped ability to move things with his mind. (Classic power!) One night while Luke is asleep, people break into his house, and when he wakes in the morning in his bed, you know as well as I that what he'll find outside his bedroom door is not the rest of his house — just like Patrick McGoohan in "The Prisoner," one of several other works for the screen that may cross your mind as the show goes on. "Stranger Things," "The Matrix," "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," "The Breakfast Club" and "Severance" are some others that came to my mind. Luke is in the Institute, a drab complex, whose young inmates are identified either as "TK" (telekinetic) or "TP" (telepathic), or once in a blue moon, "PC" (precognitive). Just how Luke's kidnappers fixed on him in the first place is something for you not to think about. But there he is, and because he is also a genius, his warders think he might be more than usually useful to them. Ms. Sigsby (Mary-Louise Parker) runs the place; her cheery tone and promises of fun food and no bedtime does not hide from you, or from Luke, the fact that she is a liar. That she tells Luke he's there as part of a project to "serve not just your country but the whole world" is not something to impress any kidnapped teenager. Aiding and abetting Sigsby are sepulchral security head Stackhouse (Julian Richings), who at one point will speak the words "unjustly vilified term final solution"; Tony (Jason Diaz), an almost comically sadistic orderly; and Dr. Hendricks (Robert Joy), who has cooked up the pseudoscientific nonsense at the heart of the plan and puts Luke through a variety of upsetting "tests." Housekeeper Maureen (Jane Luk) is nice, though — not to be completely trusted, necessarily, but nice. Meanwhile, handsome Tim Jamieson (Ben Barnes), a former policeman, decorated for an incident that left him bad about feeling decorated, hitchhikes into town — the town near the Institute, whatever it's called — and gets himself a job with the local constabulary as its "nightknocker," checking that businesses have locked their doors and the streets are trouble free. At the police station, he meets Officer Wendy Gullickson (Hannah Galway), which makes space for some light guy-gal vibing, while his nocturnal peregrinations will bring him into contact with Annie (Mary Walsh), a street person and conspiracy theorist, who does know an actual thing or two, and who will inspire Tim to poke around that place up on the hill with the guards and the barbed-wire fence. He may not be a cop anymore, but he is not, he says, "the kind of guy who can look the other way." At the mostly empty, sort of shabby Institute — like a student center that hasn't been updated in 30 years, because what's the point — Luke meets fellow inmates Kalisha (Simone Miller), who inexplicably kisses him upon first meeting, Iris (Birva Pandya), cool kid Nick (Fionn Laird), and later little Avery (Viggo Hanvelt), who may prove the most powerful of all. The institute has a Front Hall and a Back Hall; at some point, kids from the former are transferred to the latter, which completes a "graduation" the staff mark with a cake and candles. (They're told that after doing time in the Back Hall, they'll be going home, which could not possibly be part of the plan.) The meaning of the column of smoke rising from one of the compound's buildings should be immediately obvious. Written by Benjamin Cavell (who co-wrote the 2020 adaptation of King's "The Stand") and directed by Jack Bender (King's "Mr. Mercedes"), it drags at times and isn't particularly interesting to look at, though there's action and a few special effects toward the end, which, King being King, isn't over until it's over — and it never is. Parker is always good to watch, and her Mrs. Sigsby is given some material to make her seem human — if not quite to humanize her — but nothing regarding the Institute and its complicated plans and methods really makes any sense, even in King's made-world. Still, if you regard "The Institute" as a kind of YA novel about resistance and revolt, and a metaphor for the way young people have been sacrificed by the old to feed their agendas and wars, it has some legs. Sign up for Screen Gab, a free newsletter about the TV and movies everyone's talking about from the L.A. Times. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Tom's Guide
13-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Tom's Guide
Stephen King's 'The Institute' makes a compelling dark thriller series with enough mystery to keep you hooked
As someone who grew up reading Stephen King, I've always had a soft spot for the way his stories feel eerie but still deeply human. So when I heard 'The Institute' was being adapted into a series, I was curious (and, I'll admit, a little worried). Stephen King adaptations can be hit or miss, but "The Institute," now streaming on MGM Plus, had me hooked from the first episode. And honestly, that's a telling sign it's enjoyable for me, considering it usually takes me at least two or three episodes to feel intrigued. Set between a quiet town in Maine and a secretive facility hidden deep in the woods, 'The Institute' follows two seemingly unrelated storylines that start to intertwine in unsettling ways. There's a sense of growing unease throughout, and the show takes its time building a world where danger feels both immediate and just out of sight. If you're in the mood for something dark, suspenseful, and just the right amount of unsettling, 'The Institute' is definitely worth queuing up now that it's landed on MGM Plus. 'The Institute' follows 14‑year‑old Luke Ellis (Joe Freeman), a telekinetic prodigy who's abruptly kidnapped from his suburban Minneapolis home and wakes up in an eerie, government-run facility called The Institute. Inside, he finds other children endowed with psychic or telekinetic powers. Under the watchful eye of the cold and determined Ms. Sigsby (Mary‑Louise Parker), these youngsters undergo intense testing to amplify their abilities, promised tokens and safety in exchange for compliance Meanwhile, in a nearby Maine town, ex-cop Tim Jamieson (Ben Barnes) takes a low-profile security job but becomes drawn into the investigation when local children go missing. As his and Luke's paths converge, the two form an uneasy alliance. The idea of children confined and controlled by adults is a common theme in young adult fiction. You only have to look at stories like 'Maze Runner' and 'Hunger Games' to see it. However, Stephen King and series developer Benjamin Cavell bring a more compelling and thoughtful take on this familiar concept. Right from the start, the show makes it clear that Mary-Louise Parker's Ms. Sigsby and the other adults running this creepy Institute aren't the kind guardians they pretend to be, and it's a fact that Freeman's Luke quickly sees thanks to his sharp mind. These villains are fully fleshed-out characters rather than one-dimensional villains. One of the show's standout features is its worldbuilding, which delivers fresh and surprising twists that set it apart from similar genre stories. Rather than glossing over key dangers like the ruthless organization quietly eliminating people or hinting at sinister plans for the gifted children, 'The Institute' confronts these threats head-on, making it genuinely engaging to watch. Every so often, a show introduces a rising star, and 'The Institute' seems to have found one in Joe Freeman. Across eight episodes, he navigates a wide emotional range, balancing charm, intelligence, vulnerability, and defiance. He still knows how to be a kid without falling into the super-smart character trope. While several young cast members stand out (like Fionn Laird as the rebellious Nick Wilholm), the emotional core of the story's scenes at the Institute largely rests on Freeman's character, Luke. He brings genuine humanity to the role, helping the audience connect deeply with the reluctant leader's journey. Mary-Louise Parker also captivates as the series' cunning antagonist, often keeping her true intentions cleverly ambiguous. Her presence dominates every scene, even during moments of silence, likely a testament to her strong background in theater. At the center of it all is Ben Barnes, who plays Tim Jamieson, a former cop trying to lay low in a sleepy Maine town until missing children and strange coincidences draw him into something much bigger. I actually had the chance to speak with Barnes about the role, and he told me he was excited to step away from the string of villainous characters he's played in recent years. 'I was looking for a character with a real sense of decency or a moral compass, and Tim has this quiet, redemptive arc,' Barnes said. 'I've played a lot of untrustworthy, psychotic, or villainous characters over the last few years, so it was refreshing to find someone who genuinely wants to be a good man. I think he's searching for ways to prove himself, and that made him a really interesting character — one I haven't played before.' Barnes is exactly how I pictured Tim while reading the book, as he brings the right mix of quiet strength and determination that feels true to the character. Clearly, 'The Institute' boasts an impressively cast ensemble. Fans new to 'The Institute' should know the show leans more toward psychological thriller than traditional horror. It's not about jump scares or supernatural monsters; instead, the real danger comes from people. The most chilling moments come from the harm inflicted on vulnerable children by those in power. For those who have read the novel, the TV adaptation's changes might be a bit frustrating. But as with most adaptations, it's best to view the show and the book as separate experiences. Despite the differences, 'The Institute' remains true to the core plot, characters, and motivations, which should satisfy most fans of the original story. 'The Institute' joins the ever-growing list of Stephen King stories adapted for the screen, but this time it's been given the high-end streaming treatment. Drawn from his 2019 novel, it's also one of the more recent entries from King's catalog to make the leap to TV. The result is a smart, well-crafted thriller that hits the mark in all the right ways. This adaptation strikes a strong balance between psychological thriller and light horror, taking familiar elements and presenting them in a fresh, engaging way. The ending does leave the door open for more, and with such a strong setup and memorable characters, it wouldn't be surprising if MGM Plus considers a second season (I hope so, anyway). You can stream the first two episodes of 'The Institute' on MGM Plus now.
South China Morning Post
12-07-2025
- Entertainment
- South China Morning Post
Is Stephen King happy with The Institute TV adaptation? Yes, very much so
Stephen King has a rule for anyone wanting to adapt one of his books for the big or small screen. It is basically the Hippocratic Oath for intellectual property: first, do no harm. 'When you deviate from the story that I wrote, you do so at your own risk,' he says in an interview from his home in the US state of Maine. 'I know what I'm doing and I'm not sure that screenwriters always do or that producers and directors always do.' Not everyone has listened to King, who has enjoyed hit adaptations (The Shawshank Redemption, Stand By Me, Misery, It, The Shining) as well as flops (Salem's Lot, Graveyard Shift, The Lawnmower Man). The industrious novelist has lately watched as a wave of adaptations of his work has been crafted for cinemas or streaming platforms, a list that includes The Life of Chuck and the upcoming The Long Walk, The Running Man and It: Welcome to Derry. It also includes the eight-episode series The Institute, which debuts on July 13 on American network MGM+ and will also be available on Amazon Prime Video. Stephen King attends the 2018 PEN Literary Gala at the American Museum of Natural History in New York on May 22, 2018. Photo: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP The Institute is about a secret government facility where children with special talents – telekinesis and telepathy – are imprisoned and put to dark geopolitical uses. Their bedrooms are faithfully re-created, and creepy posters – 'Your Gift is Important' and 'I Choose to be Happy' – line the halls.
