What is Boy Swallows Universe about? Netflix series explained

Boy Swallows Universe is the latest original series to hit Netflix – here’s everything you need to know about it.

Interesting in name and interesting in nature, Boy Swallows Universe is the latest original series to grace Netflix, following popular January content including Fool Me Once and The Brothers Sun.

Adapted from the bestselling novel of the same name by author and journalist Trent Dalton, the story was inspired by Dalton’s childhood.

With the series now available to stream on the platform, here’s everything you need need to know about Netflix’s Boy Swallows Universe.

What is Boy Swallows Universe about?

According to Netflix, the official synopsis for the new show reads as follows:

“It’s 1985 in a dusty suburb in Brisbane. Middle schooler Eli Bell (Cameron) and his older brother, Gus (Tiger Halley), live in a working-class neighborhood with their mom, Frankie (Tonkin), and their stepdad, Lyle (Fimmel). Eli’s just trying to get by and make the best out of things — he’s mentored by a warmhearted convicted felon (Brown) and gets life advice from a pen pal serving jail time (Briggs) — but the school bullies and his stepdad don’t make it easy.

“Eli’s coerced into troublemaking at school, and at home he’s desperate to find out if Lyle’s fallen back into dealing heroin. As he investigates what his stepdad’s really up to (fearing that his mom, an addict, has begun using again), he gets mixed up in the criminal underbelly of his town. Boy Swallows Universe follows Eli through his dark but often magical teenage years as he stumbles toward adulthood.”

Boy Swallows Universe cast: Who’s in it?

The cast of the new Netflix series includes :

• Felix Cameron
• Zac Burgess
• Lee Tiger Halley
• Travis Fimmel
• Phoebe Tonkin
• Simon Baker
• Bryan Brown
• Sophie Wilde
• Anthony LaPaglia
• Christopher James Baker
• Deborah Mailman
• HaiHa Le
• Adam Briggs

Speaking to WWD, Phoebe Tonkin said of her role “She came from a traumatic upbringing, and she’s just doing the best with what she has. She doesn’t always get it right, but she does love her children so much.

“The internet is such a great resource for that. I listened to a lot of podcasts about people in sobriety and recovery, and the strengths and the lessons that they’ve learned,” Tonkin adds. “Because a lot of where we see Frankie, she is sober, and I don’t think it should be discounted what she had to go through to get to that place.”

Is Boy Swallows Universe worth watching on Netflix?

The series currently has a rating of 88% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer, with an audience score of 89%.

Luke Buckmaster from The Guardian wrote, “Netflix’s seven-part adaptation of Trent Dalton’s acclaimed novel Boy Swallows Universe has a wonderful kind of tonal elasticity, stretching from despair to happiness in a heartbeat.”

Jenna Scherer from AV Club added, “The heart of Boy Swallows Universe is the dynamic between the two brothers, whose devotion to each other could only have been forged in the crucible of shared trauma.”

Joel Keller at Decider agreed “Somehow, Boy Swallows Universe pulls off a pretty dark coming-of-age story without being depressing or hopeless, thanks to some deft writing and fantastic performances by the cast.”