The Nevers

• Laura Donnelly as Amalia True: The most irresponsible, spontaneous, and psychologically broken hero of 19th-century London, and a danger to the British elite. She is dedicated to her cause and never turns down a drink.[3]
• Olivia Williams as Lavinia Bidlow: A rich spinster supporter of the "Touched" (aka metahumans), who also runs The Orphanage where many of the main characters live. Williams previously played one of the leads on Whedon's previous series Dollhouse.[4][5]
• James Norton as Hugo Swan: A pansexual aristocratic young man, who owns a private club and specializes in extortion.[4][5]
• Tom Riley as Augustus "Augie" Bidlow: A kind geek and Lavinia's brother.[4][5]
• Ann Skelly as Penance Adair: Amalia's best friend, and one of the first "Nevers". She is very religious and also heretically progressive.[4][5]
• Ben Chaplin as Detective Frank Mundi: A large and gruff policeman with a strong sense of morals. He has a reputation of violence and heavy drinking.[4][5]
• Pip Torrens as Lord Massen: A former military man and strong supporter of the British Empire, and very skeptical regarding people with extraordinary powers.[4][5]
• Zackary Momoh as Doctor Horatio Cousens: A West Indian physician. Amalia was there when he discovered his own power. He collaborates with her, and the Beggar King.[4][5]
• Amy Manson as Maladie: Unstable and living underground. Maladie is not only in charge of a band of renegades, she is on a killing spree.[4][5]
• Nick Frost as Declan Orrun, aka The Beggar King: Charismatic and brutal, Declan is in command of London's low-level criminals. Sometimes he works with Amalia and her cause – and sometimes just as happy to sell them out.[4][5]
• Rochelle Neil as Annie Carbey, aka Bonfire: A criminal with the ability to control fire.[4][5]
• Eleanor Tomlinson as Mary Brighton: A failed singer who has a big surprise ahead of her.[4][5]
• Denis O'Hare as Dr. Edmund Hague: A brutal American surgeon.[4][5]

• Kiran Sonia Sawar as Harriet Kaur[6]
• Elizabeth Berrington as Lucy Best[6]
• Ella Smith as Desirée Blodgett[6]
• Viola Prettejohn as Myrtle Haplisch[6]
• Anna Devlin as Primrose Chattoway[6]
• Martyn Ford as Nicolas Perbal[6]

On July 13, 2018, it was announced that HBO had given the production a straight-to-series order. Joss Whedon will serve as a writer, director, executive producer and showrunner for the series. The series landed at HBO after a bidding war with other networks and streaming services including Netflix.[2][7][8]

Whedon explained the title at Comic-Con 2018:

They, themselves are not called that [The Nevers] in the show. It’s a phrase that’s meant to evoke a sort of reaction to their oddity, to what is considered unnatural. The idea that you should never be like this, you should never have existed. Something is not the way it should be, and you don’t have the right to have whatever weird power or ability that you have. And that idea, that some people are not of the natural order, is fascinating to me. I don't agree with it. But to me, it’s one of those things where you take something negative, and you wear it as a badge of honor, basically. Certain things could never happen - they’re happening. And the people they’re happening to are taking their place in the world.[9]

Executive producers include Bernadette Caulfield, Jane Espenson, and Doug Petrie. Espenson and Petrie, who worked with Whedon on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, will also serve as writers.[10] Laurie Penny is also part of the series' writing staff.[11] Gemma Jackson serves as production designer.[12]

On July 4, 2019, Whedon announced that principal photography had started, with filming occurring in London.[10][13] In July 2019, it was reported that scenes had been filmed at Trinity Church Square,[14] and in the New Wimbledon Theatre area.[15] In August 2019, scenes were filmed at Chatham Historic Dockyard in Kent.[16]

In late January, shooting took place at Joyce Grove, a country house estate in the Jacobean style. The building will double as The Orphanage.[17] Due to the lack of studio space in London, HBO worked with Adrian Wootton, CEO of Film London and the British Film Commission to find warehouse spaces and old industrial spaces they could base the production in.[18] The series completed production on five of its ten-episode order before production was shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[19] Filming resumed in September and production was completed by the end of October.[20]

On November 25, 2020, Whedon announced that he was stepping down from the series citing various reasons for his decision in "this year of unprecedented challenges." In a statement released he explained that the taxing nature of working on such a project during the global coronavirus pandemic had taken a toll on his energy levels, as he confirmed that he would be officially exiting the series.[21] On January 28, 2021, British screenwriter Philippa Goslett was announced as the new showrunner.[22]