Prerna Singh
‘Two Weeks to Live’ is a crime action drama mini-series starring Maisie Williams as Kim Noakes, a young misfit who lives with her mother, Tina (Sian Clifford), in the middle of nowhere. After her father was killed, her survivalist mother whisked her off to a remote village in Scotland and trained her with the skills she needs, should there be an apocalypse or they be under attack. It is hard to miss the subtle references to Arya Stark’s life from ‘Game of Thrones‘, but one would be curious to know if this happened to someone, for real. Well, we are here to put those doubts to rest.
Is Two Weeks to Live Based on a True Story?
No, ‘Two Weeks to Live’ is not based on a true story. Written by Gaby Hull, the series was originally drafted as a script for a film that got converted into a mini-series since there was enough material. This has helped the series to move at an exciting pace, with tightly packed scenes where no character overshoots their time on-screen. Although we can’t help but draw parallels to the Stark girl, she is not the first of the tough-as-nails female characters we have come across.
Filmmakers and viewers seem to enjoy showing the self-sufficient heroine who can fend for herself, be it Camille Montes (Olga Kurylenko) in ‘Quantum of Solace,’ Cataleya Restrepo (Zoe Saldana) in ‘Colombiana,’ or Arya Stark (Maisie Williams). All of these women are driven by fierce love for their family and a deadly sense of justice. Williams herself has admitted that her role in ‘Two Weeks to Live’ is a nod to her character in ‘Game of Thrones’ since she is best known for it. She enjoyed playing Kim since the character was set along similar lines but, unlike GOT, surrounded by humor.
Much like our isolated lives during the ongoing pandemic, we have all got a taste of prepping for the worst and being cut off from the outside world. Needless to say, “end of the world” has often been a part of our conversations, with the Amazon fires, deadly Tsunamis, hurricanes, and earthquakes. Being a doomsday prepper does not sound so far-fetched now, does it? Let’s admit that we were all worried when stores started running out of sanitizers and masks at the onset of coronavirus. In films, endless stories have been developed around survival and apocalypse, which brings us to why Kim would be so easily convinced about the possibility.
With Tina and Kim living off the grid, the lack of touch with reality that Kim experiences sounds very possible and makes her gullible. Having been cut off from the rest of the world, Kim has little idea about social interactions, which is why she is seen to not conform to much of what would be considered “appropriate” or “desirable.” Her ideas of the world often come from what she watches in films and on television, which takes on a whole new meaning for her.
Someone who is dependent for information on what they see on the screen can easily be “misinformed.” This is not far from our everyday lives, where our outlook and beliefs are shaped by what we consume in the form of films, news, or social media. So, when Nicky (Mawaan Rizwan) and Jay (Taheen Modak) show her a fake video of the world coming to an end, she takes them seriously and immediately gets down to the most important thing on her bucket list- avenging her father’s death.
Read More: Where Is Two Weeks to Live Filmed?
