‘All the Light We Cannot See’: Meet the Characters Behind Netflix’s Epic Wartime Drama
Preview
Some people remind us that goodness persists during even the darkest days. Such are the compelling characters in the four-part limited series, All the Light We Cannot See, adapted from Anthony Doerr’s Pulitzer Prize–winning 2014 novel, about a blind French girl and a German soldier whose fates intertwine during World War II.
Daniel LeBlanc (Mark Ruffalo)
A kind master locksmith at Paris’ National Museum of Natural History, Daniel flees the city’s 1940 German invasion with his blind young daughter, Marie-Laure. He must protect them from sadistic Nazi Reinhold von Rumpel (Lars Eidinger), who will do anything to possess a priceless diamond Daniel is safeguarding.
(Credit: Netflix)
Marie-Laure LeBlanc (Aria Mia Loberti)
Intellectually curious and brave, Marie-Laure begins illegal radio broadcasts that contain coded information. It’s the first-ever role for Loberti, cast by director Shawn Levy (Stranger Things) after a global search for blind and low-vision actors. She says of Ruffalo’s mentorship, “Mark really took time with me so that we could sell the relationship and make it beautiful.”
(Credit: Katalin Vermes/Netflix)
Werner Pfennig (Louis Hofmann)
Soulful Werner has a rare gift for radio repair and is recruited by the Nazis against his will to track down forbidden transmissions. The young soldier becomes entranced by Marie-Laure’s voice and wants to protect her. Says Hofmann, who learned to build radios from scratch to prep for the role: “[Werner is] dragged into the cruelty of war. He fights for good, fails and keeps trying.”
(Credit: Netflix)
Etienne LeBlanc (Hugh Laurie)
Daniel’s creative, philosophical uncle suffers from agoraphobia after enduring the horrors of WWI battle. He shelters Daniel and Marie-Laure in his French coastal home; her enthusiasm for life sparks his heroic return to the outside world to once again fight against a tyrannical foe. It’s a message that resonates in a series that is all about the spirit of resistance in the horrors of wartime.
All the Light We Cannot See, Premieres Thursday, November 2, Netflix
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