History

[teapotts]

Syfy's Alice miniseries is a direct continuation of the Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There. Taking place 140 odd years after the titular Alice fell threw the rabbit hole, the Wonderland of the miniseries is a very different place to the fun nonsense of a child's story. The inhabitants of Wonderland had suddenly learned they weren't the only world out in the universe and the Queen of Hearts, who's power over her people was waning after facing humiliation by a child, looked to Alice's world as a way to secure her reign.

Using a manufactured looking glass to travel between worlds, the Queen had several humans from the real world kidnapped. Over the years and through strange applications of "science", it was found that the emotions of these humans could be drained, concentrated, and bottled to be used by Wonderland's people as an instant emotion high. The Queen orchestrated for the use of these emotional drugs to be widespread, creating a populace dependent on the royal family to feed their addictions. The palace was turned into the Happy Hearts Casino, where humans, called Oysters by the people of Wonderland, were taken and forced into having emotional reactions through casino games and shows of exotic dancing. Each Oyster was branded with an irremovable ivy like mark and had their memories suppressed.

The drug trade became the economic and cultural backbone of Wonderland. The royal family's rule over the country became absolute, enough so that they were able to take down surrounding kingdoms and began destroying any infrastructure than could pose a threat (libraries, militia, organized gatherings, ect). The only profitable, and safe, jobs in the country became either working for the casino or becoming a lower level seller of the "emotion teas".

Enter Hatter. It's unclear whether Hatter of the miniseries is meant to be the same Hatter as in the novels or a descendant who has taken on a historic title. The Hatter of this canon isn't hosting any parties, he's the owner of a "tea" shop who specializes in selling the most exotic of the emotional drugs. While Hatter is very much a cog in the royal's families schemes, he's also working along side of the resistance effort that's popped up against the casino. He gets supplies for the resistance fighters, mostly providing them with food and other living provisions without committing to fighting himself.

This Hatter has survived the years post-Alice's arrival as a conman. He pretends to be on everyone's side and tries to pit them against each other for his own benefit. Hatter's primary goal has been to save his own skin. He watched his father and older brother give their lives in service to the Queen. His father eventually committed suicide from the guilt and his bother became a hardened assassin who Hatter had to kill when he became the assignment (cut from the final edit of the movie, but released by the production company as additional character information). Hatter has since then tried to weasel his way out of any and all trouble, longing to free his country from the tyranny that ripped apart his family but lacking the courage to do commit to that goal.

Hatter spent several years working both sides of a brewing war, up until one of his regular tea shop customers brought in an escaped Oyster to trade for payment. This Oyster claimed to be named Alice, like the legendary heroine that once changed the course of their country. Realizing a golden opportunity when he saw it, Hatter took her in.

Alice, at the time, claimed to be looking for her boyfriend. Hatter took her to the resistance, believing they could pawn off the ring Alice had and use that to get her home. He could look the hero helping out the resistance with little work on his end and perhaps make a tidy profit. The ring turned out to be the "Stone of Wonderland", one of the royal jewels that acted as a key to turn on the looking glass (made so that the Queen would be the only one in control of who came and went). The ring could prove a turning point for the resistance effort, could bring about an end to the Queen's tyranny, and suddenly Hatter found himself drawn into the war in the way he'd always been afraid of.

The royal guard quickly learned that Alice had the ring and trashed Hatter's shop once word got out she'd been spotted there. Now with a bounty on both their heads, Hatter had to get Alice away from the city and into the hands of the resistance. They escaped to the edge of the country, wondering the forest, nearly being eaten by the Jabberwocky and running into the last of the White Knights. After hearing about the destruction of the White's kingdom because of the Queen, Alice breaks away from Hatter and let's herself be captured. Hatter and the Knight, Charlie, go after her.

Hatter manages a daring rescue and brings Alice back to the White's kingdom. Alice informs him that she's met back up with her boyfriend, the one who gave her the ring in the first place. It's Jack, the Queen's son, and she believes he was trying to save her all along. Hatter instantly believes Jack is playing her in a bid for the crown and tries to get her to the resistance leader, Caterpillar, instead of letting her go back for Jack. Their argument turns out to be a moot point as the resistance agent sent to lead her to Caterpillar turns out to be Jack himself who did give Alice the ring to start a coup.

It's revealed Alice's missing father had been in Wonderland the whole time, being used to make the emotion drugs for the casino. The resistance hopes that Alice's presence might break him free of the memory suppression and without their lead "tea maker", the royal family might be weak enough for the coup to happen. Alice and Jack are captured again by the Queen's forces, and Hatter tries to rescue her again. His efforts are for naught, and he ends up a prisoner as well. After a stretch of torture, bother Alice and Hatter manage to escape their tormentors and reunite in the middle of the casino where they begin to wake up the humans trapped there. Alice finds her father and manages to snap him out of the memory control only long enough for him to be killed by his co-workers.

The casino begins to collapse from the negative emotion loop caused by the humans witnessing the death Everyone rushes outside and the humans join up with the resistance to confront the Queen. With the casino in shambles and the humans free, it's easy for Jack to take control from his mother. The ring is used to send all the humans back to their world, including Alice, who leaves when Hatter mistakenly believes she's still in love with Jack and tells her she should return home. But soon after Hatter realizes he shouldn't have let her go and he comes through the looking glass after her.

Hatter poses as a construction work, taking on the name David, and pretends to be a bystander who found her after she fell back into her world. The two are reunited days after Alice is released from the hospital, Hatter finally admitting he's in love with her and that he's willing to stay in her world as long as she's willing to have him.


*The original draft of the script revealed more of Hatter's backstory that, while cut from the final film version, doesn't contradict anything from the miniseries. In the script, Hatter's father and brother both worked for the Queen. They were described as ambitious in their efforts but also as people who took their jobs as a last effort for survival. Hatter's father committed suicide via poisoning due to the guilt of harming people on the Queen's orders. His brother found pleasure in working as the Queen's executioner and eventually tried to kill Hatter, who until then had tried to keep out of the family business. Hatter killed his brother in self defense, but since he was a favorite of the Queen, Hatter had to start working for her to keep his own head. Similarly, working for the resistance was necessary to keep alive from retaliation attempts.