Time Bandits without dwarf actors? TV remake with Taika Waititi, Lisa Kudrow had a rethink

Both the film and the series follow a ragtag band of time-travelling thieves, led in the film by David Rappaport as Randall and in the TV series by Kudrow as Penelope, who join forces with their newest recruit – an 11-year-old history buff named Kevin – on a journey through time to save the boy’s parents from evil forces.

“We had to be different so as not to just be thieving or tracing over what they had,” Clement says.

In the biggest departure from the original film, the bandits are not played by actors with dwarfism – a move the pair says was swiftly criticised by the dwarfism community when the casting was announced early in the show’s development.

Abbie Purvis, the granddaughter of actor Jack Purvis, who plays Wally, one of the thieves, in the film, took to TikTok to condemn the casting choice, saying, “For a generation that is so big on talking about inclusivity and diversity and making sure that everyone’s heard, this whole casting choice just seems absurd.”

Waititi said he and his co-writers initially wrote the script with some of the main cast as people with dwarfism but he does not think the film “should be defined because of the presence of little people in it”.

They ultimately went with different actors. Clement said the creative team wrestled with the casting decision, referencing “two big sides of this debate” – “Whether it’s right to stereotype little people as magical creatures, and then also whether, by not doing that, you’re cutting out jobs for smaller actors.”

Following the casting announcement, Clement said they “reacted to those complaints and added parts for some smaller actors”, saying that should the series be renewed for a second season, those roles would be more prominently featured.

The child actor who holds the show together as Kevin is Kal-El Tuck, who had appeared in a handful of short films before he was cast as the series’ leading character. He said he did not watch the original film as he did not want it to colour his performance.

“I wanted to be my Kevin, no one else’s Kevin,” Tuck said. “I wanted to be my way of doing Kevin.”

Kudrow praised her young co-star, calling him a “giving actor” and noting that many of the quips and much of the banter among the bandits were improvised. The Friends actress also said she was initially nervous to work on the project.

“I was, of course, scared, like ‘Uh oh, they’ll think they made a mistake,’ because you can’t help it, you have that insecurity, and ‘Do I have the right tone for this?’ and all of that, but it was just fun,” Kudrow said, noting that she felt like she was “playing” while on set.

While it does stray from the beloved film, Time Bandits brings the story to a new generation and strives to honour the original’s humour and heart.

“There’s always a pressure of making anything, but we don’t want to anger fans of the original movie, of course,” Clement said before Waititi quipped: “We’re scared of fans.”