What to Watch Verdict
Black Dagger Brotherhood is sexy, dark and loaded with everything that J.R. Ward fans want to see in this very faithful Passionflix adaptation.
Pros
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Fans of the JR Ward series will immediately be drawn in
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Casting is impeccable; everyone understood the assignment
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Immersive world building, lots of action
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Faithful storytelling that follows the book very closely
Cons
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Easy for the uninitiated to get lost in Ward's huge world
Paranormal romance has arrived on Passionflix with the debut of Black Dagger Brotherhood. Based on JR Ward's bestselling novels, the inaugural season of the series follows the events of the first book, Dark Lover, and its vampire protagonist Wrath (Robert Maaser, From the World of John Wick: Ballerina) and Beth (Olivia Applegate, Love & Death), the woman he's sworn to protect. What to Watch previewed the first episode and the vampire series manages to sink its teeth from the very start.
Wrath is the last pureblooded vampire and leader of the clan of warrior vampires known as the Black Dagger Brotherhood. An old friend asks him to watch over his half-human daughter, Beth, who has no idea that she's not fully human. Wrath doesn't want to accept the job but as soon as he meets Beth he's drawn to her. Beth's life is in danger, but thankfully she has the most powerful vampire around to protect her.
The rest of the cast is made up of Joel Cederberg, Michael Roark (The Young and the Restless), Alex Cubis, Andrew Biernat (Wait with Me), Sia Zami and Victory Van Tuyl.
It's important to note that Passionflix is committed to bringing several books to life (Ward has written over 20 books in the BDB series thus far) and the actors have signed on to be part of this world for about 15 years and however many seasons of the story they can put together. The characters they play show up in various ways in each book, so you'll be seeing a lot from these actors in the future.
Black Dagger Brotherhood's strength is that the story and dialogue have been faithfully translated from page to screen, as is the Passionflix way. In that regard, it's going to be a massive hit for Ward's fans who love the stories and want to see them come to life as authentically as possible. (In case you're wondering what Ward thought of the casting, you can watch her reaction to the first time seeing Maaser as Wrath below)
The show's strength is also a potential weakness, though; if you're not a fan of the books, then the series may not be your cup of O-negative. (Then again, there have been several instances where I have not cared for the book version but ended up loving the Passionflix adaptation.)
Admittedly, I'm a newcomer to Ward's BDB world. I didn't read Dark Lover until Passionflix optioned the series so I wasn't entirely sure what to expect going into the series. I didn't have a vision of what the characters needed to look like but I trusted Passionflix to deliver the same top-level casting that fans have come to expect. I wasn't disappointed.
I was drawn into the story from the start. I don't recall all of the details from the book so there were lots of elements I didn't understand, but I know that everything will be explained in time. For the uninitiated, patience will be key, as there is a lot of world-building that has to happen in order for Ward's world to come to life.
I can't say enough about the scope and magnitude of this series. Though I've only seen one episode, every detail of Ward's world has been recreated faithfully and in loving detail. It's a thrilling start to what's about to be a very long relationship.
New episodes of Black Dagger Brotherhood stream on Thursdays on Passionflix.
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