This article, “What is the purpose of the Guardians” contains spoilers regarding Amazon Prime Video’s Night Sky season 1.
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Like all great sci-fi, Night Sky comes with its own mythology, addressing mysterious Guardians, cult communities, ritualistic sacrifices and an alien technology of endless possibilities. This cryptic and complex world is explored in varying degrees of depth over the course of its eight episode run. Certain topics are only briefly mentioned with a throwaway line of dialogue, whilst others are allowed much more screen time and are elaborated on in detail. One of these topics, that deserved a lot more focus and needs discussing promptly, is the elusive Guardians of Night Sky. Who are they and what do they do?
Night Sky season 1 – What is the purpose of the Guardians?
The first citing of the Guardians comes in the Argentinian subplot, where Stella is sent to hunt down the apostate Jude. She is referred to as a Guardian by this drifter. An assassin tasked with finding then killing any traitors in the community. Stella has spent years protecting the alien portal and fulfilling any assignments she is sent. In a flashback we see her very first, in which she shadowed her father. This is obviously a community that has thrived for decades, but why do they have so many defectors? Stella is part of this close-knit cult, yet is allowed to live on earth, guarding one of the many alien chambers scattered across the globe. The community itself lives on an alien planet, which Irene and Franklin discover in the season’s climax. Stella is sent around the world to track down any traitors and this community seems to have a lot of them. They must be up to something ungodly to cause such distress in their people.
The Guardians are tasked with keeping the portal and their hidden community a secret at all costs. This explains why all traitors are hunted and killed, so they don’t reveal any of these monumental secrets. Although Gabe and Hannah clearly escaped the clutches of the cult and remain very much alive. These Guardians just aren’t as effective as they think they are. Even Jude manages to survive, when Stella decides to kidnap Cornelius instead. This brings us nicely onto the villainous crime boss, who Hannah refers to as Cornelius. I doubt he is the mastermind or ringleader of the entire community, but he must be high ranking. He assigns Stella with tasks and is brought in when things get ugly. Cornelius extracts the necessary information from Chandra on Jude’s location and then snaps her neck, in a truly brutal sequence. He too, makes sure that Jude is dealt with appropriately when Stella and Toni get cold feet, but he doesn’t count on Stella’s betrayal.
That action packed finale also involved an interesting, if brief, interaction between Jude and Stella. Jude says that in his youth he once met Stella at a ceremony and mentions the Guardians making sacrifices. This could allude to a ritualistic sacrifice or just the act of dedicating your life to a cause, the ambiguity leaves this scenario frustratingly open ended. There is a deeper world brimming under the surface here, a rich history to explore, yet the writers choose to only eke out information instead. If there is a second series they may address the mythology of Night Sky in more detail.
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