‘Lord of the Flies’ Executive Producer Really Got to Know Jack Thorne and David McKenna Over Roast

IndieWire Honors: “Lord of the Flies” executive producer Joel Wilson shares core memories of having creator Jack Thorne and actor David McKenna over for dinner in advance of their Netflix limited series.

On June 4, the IndieWire Honors Spring 2026 ceremony will celebrate the creators and stars responsible for crafting some of the year’s best television series. Curated and selected by IndieWire’s editorial team, IndieWire Honors is a celebration of the creators, artisans, and performers behind shows well worth toasting. In the days leading up to the Los Angeles event, IndieWire is showcasing their work with new interviews and tributes from their peers.

Ahead, “Lord of the Flies” executive producer Joel Wilson tells IndieWire about how getting to know his colleagues and Wavelength Award recipients Jack Thorne and David McKenna over a roast illuminated why they were the best people to bring forth a new take on the William Golding novel, and its tragic literary figure, Piggy.

Shortly after lockdown was over, Jack and his family came around to mine for a roast. Within minutes, my kids had him on the floor, using him as a climbing frame — they hadn’t seen him in well over a year but responded to him like no time had passed at all. That’s what kids do with people who are genuinely more interested in what a seven-year-old thinks about something than in whatever the adults in the room are doing. After lunch, it came up that “Lord of the Flies” was his favourite book. It’s mine too. We couldn’t believe we’d never realised that before. It felt like a sign.

Jack’s notion was that the book keeps you at arm’s length from the boys, and television could get you inside their heads. Jack wanted to find the tenderness in a story most people remember as relentless. It’s a bold read of a novel best remembered for the fatal bludgeoning of a child, but he’s not wrong.

We all assumed Piggy would be more of a victim than David ever played him. David’s inflection on the lines genuinely surprised Jack and changed his understanding of the character. We certainly hadn’t expected Piggy to dance. Then again, no one can anticipate David McKenna. He’s one of the more extraordinary people I have met.

After we wrapped production, David came over with Lox Pratt and both their families for a Sunday roast.  After lunch, he sidled up to me and asked if I had a microphone and a speaker. I set them up. He sang “Don’t Cry For Me Argentina.” Small boy from Belfast, massive song, huge drama, famously sung by a woman. One of the funniest things any of us had ever seen — at first — then without warning, it was one of the most moving too. He became, entirely and completely, Eva Perón. 

He followed it with two of Roxie Hart’s saucier numbers from “Chicago,” doing all of her moves. All of them. 

Another anecdote sums him up better: I was on set deep in the jungle in Malaysia the day another young actor, entirely reasonably, asked what to do if the mud and bugs got to him mid-take. David said: “Tolerate it.” Two words from someone who knows exactly what they mean, delivered without drama, which is more or less how he does everything. Except musical theatre. 

That’s why these two (Jack Thorne and David McKenna) deserve the Wavelength Award.

“Lord of the Flies” is now streaming on Netflix.