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The Other Kingdom is a short-lived fantasy sitcom created by Thomas W. Lynch that aired on Nickelodeon from April 10, 2016, to June 19, 2016. The series stars Esther Zynn, Callan Potter, Celina Martin, Taylor Adams, and Josette Halpert. Despite initially gaining controversy for its concept, the show would later go on to become a cult classic, being seen as a "hidden gem" despite the show being canceled prematurely.
Why It Rocks[]
- It's one of the few Nickcoms to not have a laugh track, setting itself apart from its competition as a more narrative-driven series.
- The series serves as a loving tribute to ancient Greek tales -- most notably A Midsummer Night’s Dream -- and Sabrina the Teenage Witch while throwing in its own unique spin on the concept. The kingdom of Athenia is nature-themed with its fairy, elf, troll (etc.) inhabitants being deeply in touch with and caring about the environment. There's also a brief and vague history about the kingdom and its realms (namely, their rival kingdom Spartania), and why the inhabitants tend to be untrusting of "others".
- While the concept of a magical princess who ends up experiencing life among humans has been done a couple of times before, this series has the princess (Astral) having to make a choice after 90 days of in the human world over whether to return home to rule her kingdom, or stay in the human world forever. The writers are keen to exploring something they think every kid/teen can relate to: feeling as though they have a big secret, in Astral's case, it's being a fairy princess.
- The series also has its share of original aspects. For instance, in the second half, the series moves away from the surreal aspect of it all and digs into larger themes such as the merging of environment and technology.
- The series offers a lot of great lessons and concept about humanity's ways that most people often take for granted. Most of the time, these lessons are highlighted via Astral's daily crystal messages being sent back to her homeland of Athenia.
- Aside from Astral's story of experiencing how humans live as Devon's exchange student and recording her life lesson reports in her crystal, there's also a second story centered in Athenia, particularly centered around British exchange student Winston Percival Althazar, who was supposed to be Devon's original exchange student but ended up in Athenia. And he has to adjust to his new life in Athenia and learn to stand up for himself and care about nature and the kingdom's inhabitants.
- Great acting from the ensemble cast, especially from Esther Zynn, Callan Potter, Taylor Adams, Adam Peddle, and Celina Martin.
- Unlike most of Nick sitcoms of the mid-2010s, this series doesn't have any usage of "trendy" aspects or one-note stereotypes that would quickly get dated or moments that try to be hip with the teenage audience. Just normal teenager actions and life in high school, with some fantasy aspects thrown into the mix.
- Great and shocking twists and turns in the story, especially in the second half of the season.
- Amazing and memorable cast of main characters who manage to be relatable to teenagers and don't come across as annoying.
- Princess Astral as noted above is the rebellious fairy princess who gets curious about life in the "other"/human realm and gets to experience life as an ordinary teenage girl. She's incredibly friendly, considerate, cheerful, honest and tries to see the good in people. And coming from Athenia, she's also in touch with and loves nature. She's also not afraid to stand up for herself or take matters into her own hands whenever she's got a problem or her kingdom's in peril. She goes through decent character development throughout the course of the show: She first comes to the human realm because of her crush on Tristan, but that becomes less important as she becomes her own independent woman to the fairies and inhabitants of her realm.
- Devon Quince is Astral's roommate in the human world and one of her closest friends. He's one of the smartest students in geography class and a great chess player. He's also very protective over Astral and tries to keep her out of trouble and away from mischief. However, despite being very smart, he's also very shy in school and sees himself as invisible towards other students wanting to not be viewed as a nerd.
- Morgan Tracey is Astral's closest BFF, and the first person to discover Astral's a fairy. She's admired anything fairy-related since she was very young, looked up to them, and has an extremely vast knowledge of their ways. So naturally, when she finds out Astral's secret, they quickly get along great due to having similar interests and likes. She's extremely friendly and wants nothing more than Astral's safety and protection, although she often has to talk Astral down from something risky.
- Brendoni is Astral's cousin from Athenia who's both a figurative and literal troll. He starts off as the kingdom's prankster, humiliating Winston and not seeing the value of humanity, so he's sent to the human world as a final resort (alongside Astral) until he can learn to care about the lives of humans. He quickly proves himself to be a total wild card and his style of (light-hearted) chaos, contrasts vastly with Devon's organizational process. As time passes, he would become a rather good and loyal friend to the group, coming to care about the Devon and the "others" (even though he'd always deny this whether it's brought up).
- Tristan Anderson is a friendly boy who values the simple things in life and doesn't believe in love. He's also Astral's boyfriend whom she would often to go get into a relationship with despite it not always working. He also turns out to be hiding a massive secret, and has a mysterious past that not even he knows about.
- The supporting cast is also fairly memorable and has quite a bit of entertainment factors to them.
- King Oberon and Queen Titania (another Midsummer Night’s Dream reference) are Astral's parents and the benevolent rulers of Athenia. Despite being mildly strict towards Astral about her duties, they respect Astral's decisions and are still caring and protective guardians of their daughter, valuing her safety over all else. They also aren't too trusting over the human race due to knowing what they're capable of, with Oberon, in particular, being a more extreme example, and yet never neither of them let their distrust of humanity corrupt them.
- Winston Percival Althazar is a British exchange student, who was supposed to be with Devon instead of Astral, but ended up in Athenia due to circumstances. He quickly realizes he's in a magical land, and though he's initially excited, his hopes are quickly dashed when he constantly make a fool of and keeps landing in serious peril. He'd spend most of his time in Athenia as a mistreated outcast with Peaseblossom being his only companion, yet still manages to remain lovable due to his good heart, and self-esteem issues. He also goes through a decent character arc relating to self-esteem and becoming more noble and caring and coming to appreciate Athenia and nature in general.
- Versitude is King Oberon's two-sided advisor, who manipulates Winston and tries to bring harm to Astral and usurp her way to the crown and aid ruler of Athenia's rival kingdom, all while putting on a façade of being a loyal, dependable ally to the King and Queen. This makes her a very entertaining villain overall.
- Oswald is a master warrior and a loyal servant to the king, who's also a sort of chaperone character similar to Goneril’s servant in King Lear who tries to dissuade the princess from leaving. And then temporarily accompanies Astral secretly providing her emotional support and keeping her safe.
- Peter Quince is Devon's widowed father as well as a reasonable authority figure who cares deeply for his son and is more than willing to provide security for Astral and Brendoni. Plus unlike most parents in teen sitcoms who are neglectful, abusive, absent, inept or embarrassing, Mr. Quince is a present, attentive, responsible and open-minded father who respects Devon's thoughts. In addition to that, he later turns to be hiding a massive secret from the main gang about his past, that's revealed in episodes 15 and 16.
- Peaseblossom is a cheerful, knowledgeable, hyperactive but inexperienced fairy in training seen as an outcast by the other fairies with only Winston as a companion. She's a hilarious comic relief who also manages to be surprisingly compelling and lovable.
Bad Qualities[]
- The show still contains the archetypical Alpha Bitch in the form of the overly dramatic Hailey Grimm, the school principal's niece. Although even she's managed to have a fair share of hidden depths and talents, it's not quite enough to save her.
- Tristan, despite being a decently written character who's a great gymnast, mainly serves to be Astral and/or Hailey's boyfriend, and never quite gets to develop an identity of his own. Had the series been not been abruptly canceled and renewed for a Season 2, this problem would have been resolved due to a massive plot twist in the final episode that will not be spoiled here.
- Not only does the series get canceled after one season, the finale "Hidden in Plain Sight", was a mediocre way to end the show as it ends the series on a cliffhanger. Plus, it leaves a lot of unanswered questions and unresolved plot points, such as:
- Why exactly does Athenia hate Spartania so much?
- What's the deal behind King Reed?
- What is Versitude's plan specifically and what was her history like?
- What was Tristan's life in Spartania like prior to coming to the human world and why didn't he know his true heritage prior to being told?
- Who was Devon's mother and what happened to her?
- What's going to happen to Winston, and will he ever be able to return to the mortal world?
- Who are Hailey's older brothers she mentioned in the pilot episode?
- And most importantly: What's going to be Astral's final decision? Will she return to her homeland to become Athenia's newest queen, or stay in the "other world" forever?
Possible Reboot/Revival?[]
On January 26, 2017, Esther Zynn (Princess Astral's actress) posted a blog on her Instagram post (which was then posted at NickALive!) announcing that she and the crew currently no plans to make a second season of the series, despite the show's extremely-short time on the air, the various unresolved plot points and the abrupt ending. However, various other websites have the series' fate labeled as "Pending" or "Undetermined" as if the cancellation was never made completely official. If fact, the series was intended to have a four-season run, according to the producers. In addition to that, the series still managed to gain a small, but strong devoted cult following, despite that short run time due to the admirable, interesting, and compelling characters, along with the lack of a typical laugh track most Nick sitcoms have. In fact, seven months after the post was released, on August 13, 2017, a user named Ori Moonsammy created a petition on Change.org to Nickelodeon and Thomas W. Lynch for a potential second season or even a reboot or revival that would pick up were the series left off and answer some of the unresolved plot-points. Said petition currently has over 1,000 supporters who signed it. No word has been brought up by the creators or crew over whether the petition will be answered or just when or how the story would be picked up, although various fans are continuing to not lose hope.