Lord of the Flies episode 2 includes a flashback before the crash – and it revives one of the novel’s biggest unanswered questions.
The BBC adaptation of Lord of the Flies, written by Jack Thorne and based on William Golding’s classic, follows a group of British schoolboys stranded on a remote island after a plane disaster.
We never learn exactly where the island is. But there’s an even bigger mystery: where were they going in the first place?
Episode 2 quietly brings that question back into focus.
Where were the boys heading in Lord of the Flies?
The episode opens at an airport. Parents hug their sons goodbye. We briefly see the aircraft: a plane operated by “Corinthian Air”.
It’s fictional, so don’t look for clues there.
On board, there’s no mention of the destination. Within seconds, turbulence hits. The plane starts to plummet, and then we’re back on the island.
In the novel, it’s suggested that the boys were being evacuated during a distant nuclear war. It’s also implied they were being flown somewhere safe in the Pacific.
But that still leaves a huge gap, considering the Pacific spans around 64 million square miles.
Australia? New Zealand? A British territory? We’re never told.
Lord of the Flies fans come up with destination
Golding’s book is set in the 1950s, against the threat of nuclear conflict.
Many readers believe the boys were being evacuated from Britain to somewhere in the southern Hhmisphere.
One Reddit user speculated: “The boys were being evacuated from a school somewhere like Singapore or Hong Kong, on their way to Australia.”
Another added: “It would make sense to evacuate as far as Australia or other British islands in the Pacific.”
There’s also a small clue in the novel. Jack mentions Simon fainted in “Gib” and “Addis” – widely assumed to mean Gibraltar and Addis Ababa. That could suggest a long-haul route heading to the east.
Read more: Lord of the Flies cast introduces Harry Potter’s new Draco and twins with a very famous dad
Lord of the Flies is available to stream on BBC iPlayer now.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Q9SQ7hTMdg
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