Warrior Nun: 10 Things You Never Knew About Netflix’s Action-Packed Series

One of Netflix’s newest series, Warrior Nun, is about a girl named Ava: she wakes up resurrected from the dead. She now has a Halo and an assortment of superpowers. While the young lady is determined to enjoy her freedom for the first time in her life, the Order of the Sanctified Cross has different plans for her. The series explores the qualities of science versus faith and personal freedom versus duty. The season finale left the audience with a painful cliff-hanger and a whole lot of questions, as well as expectations for the upcoming season.

Since it was shot overseas and it features an international cast, this series has some interesting trivia. From its real-life inspirations to filming locations, here are ten fun facts about this action-packed series.

9 Warrior Nun Was Inspired By Manga Stories

Warrior Nun was inspired by comic books with a similar name, Warrior Nun Areala. Written by Ben Dunn, it was first published in 1994. Rather than focusing on Ava, it is a story about Sister Shannon, the Halo-bearer that dies in the pilot episode.

If the name Areala sounds familiar, it’s because it’s the name of the first ever Halo-bearer. As the story progresses, there could be more flash-backs or dream sequences revealing more about both the medieval Areala and Sister Shannon.

8 None Of It Was Shot In Rome

The season finale takes place in Rome; to be precise, in the Vatican. Duretti just became the Pope and the sisterhood is there because it is after the truth. Ava found Adriel, but the season ends with an epic fight of good versus evil.

While the splendor of the churches definitely reminds of the Church’s capital, what seems to be the Vatican is actually Spain. Warrior Nun was shot in Málaga, Sevilla, Marbella, and several other Andalusian towns.

7 Jillian Salvius Was Originally Written As A Man

In the books, Jillian Salvius was actually a man named Julian. The decision works well; otherwise, the only suspicious or negative characters would all be men: Father Vincent, Cardinal Duretti, and Adriel are essentially the only men in the series and none of them could be trusted. Jillian also has her own agenda, but it’s mainly to save her son rather than to let evil take over the planet.

Since this action-packed show is also distinctly feminist, it only makes sense that the creator wrote the genius scientist/entrepreneur as a woman.

6 It Was Inspired By Fraternité Notre-Dame

According to tor.com, Ben Dunn’s main inspiration for Warrior Nun Areala was a real-life order called Fraternité Notre-Dame. This order of priest and nuns is not in union with the Pope. In the Harlem chapter of the order, there was an actual nun that had a black belt in Judo. Her sisters additionally trained in self-defense.

This was back in the nineties, when Ben Dunn first came up with the idea for Warrior Nun Areala.

5 Ava Was Alba Baptista’s First Role In English

English is not the 23-year old star’s mother tongue, but judging from Warrior Nun, it easily could have been. Alba Baptista is Portuguese, but speaks four other languages: English, German, Spanish and French.

Besides Alba, there are several other European actors in the series: Joaquim de Almeida (Cardinal Duretti) is also Portuguese and Emilio Sakraya (JC) grew up in Germany. Considering they all had to work in a second language, it just goes to show how talented the cast truly is.

4 The Creator Of The Manga Helped Write The Show

Even though the protagonists of Warrior Nun and Warrior Nun Areala are different, Ben Dunn’s knowledge about the demon-fighting nuns came in handy when writing the series.

Related: 10 Shows To Watch If You Like Lucifer

Ben Dunn was born in Taiwan, but also grew up in Texas and Kentucky. He went to a Catholic high school – perhaps it served as another inspiration for his nun-themed work as well as his most famous manga, Ninja High School. Some of the sisters have formidable martial arts skills and their attires also highly resemble those of ninjas.

3 Episode Titles Hold Secret Meanings

Episodes are named after carefully selected Bible passages that describe the main theme of the episode. They come from some of the more well-known parts of the Bible, such as Proverbs, and Revelations.

While the viewer doesn’t need to know the meaning of the Bible verses to understand what is going on in the series, they serve as a little treat and extra information for the most dedicated fans.

2 A Mistake In Announcing The New Pope

When Duretti is elected Pope, they signal the results with black smoke. In reality, black smoke is used when the cardinals fail to elect a new Pope. It’s white smoke that announces the happy news, not black.

Black smoke definitely looks more ominous than white and the atmosphere of the final episode is particularly dark and tense. Season 2 is bound to get even gloomier, with an angel/demon Adriel freely roaming the planet.

1 Warrior Nun And Game Of Thrones Have Several Locations In Common

If some of the places in Warrior Nun seem familiar, it could be that the filming locations were also used in the iconic series Game of Thrones. Both series pride themselves in stunning sets and beautiful shots of landscapes. A big part of Game of Thrones was filmed in Spain. The Royal Alcázar of Seville served as Dorne in Game of Thrones and partially as Vatican in Warrior Nun. Another filming location that the two series share is Castillo Almodovar del Rio a.k.a. Highgarden.

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