Lovecraft Country trailer offers the first look at Jordan Peele and J.J. Abrams' new HBO horror show. He was once most well known for being one half of the comedy duo Key & Peele, but now when people think of Peele, they definitely think of horror rather than comedy.
Peele’s reputation as a modern master of elevated horror of course began with his 2017 film Get Out, which became a huge hit at the box office while winning its creator an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. Peele followed up that massive success with 2019’s Us, another film blending horror with socially conscious themes. Also in 2019, Peele teamed with CBS All Access to relaunch The Twilight Zone, though that endeavor was not as successful as Peele's films in the eyes of many critics.
While Peele plots his next big screen move, the multi-faceted talent will in the meantime return to the realm of horror along with Abrams and Misha Green (Underground) for Lovecraft Country, an HBO series inspired by the master writer behind the "Cthulhu Mythos," Re-Animator and so many other classic weird horror tales. See the first Lovecraft Country teaser trailer in the space below:
The show’s official synopsis reads:
HBO’s new drama series, based on the 2016 novel by Matt Ruff of the same name, debuts this August. The series follows Atticus Freeman (Jonathan Majors) as he joins up with his friend Letitia (Jurnee Smollett-Bell) and his Uncle George (Courtney B. Vance) to embark on a road trip across 1950s Jim Crow America in search of his missing father (Michael Kenneth Williams). This begins a struggle to survive and overcome both the racist terrors of white America and the terrifying monsters that could be ripped from a Lovecraft paperback.
Obviously, Lovecraft Country is more than just another foray into Lovecraftian horror, but like so many other Peele projects, also delves deep into racial themes. In fact, the creative team behind the show goes much deeper than Peele, with Green as showrunner and experienced episode directors Yann Demange (White Boy Rick) and Daniel Sackheim (The X-Files). The show’s main cast includes Michael K. Williams (The Wire), Jurnee Smolett-Bell (Birds of Prey), Abbey Lee (The Dark Tower), Aunjanue Ellis (If Beale Street Could Talk), Jonathan Majors (The Last Black Man In San Francisco), Wunmi Mosaku (Luther) and Courtney B. Vance (Law & Order: Criminal Intent), along with newcomers Chase Brown and Marcus A. Griffin Jr.
At least going by the trailer, Lovecraft Country is set to live up to the example of Get Out and Us by delivering drama that challenges on many levels, while still giving horror fans the bloody thrills they’re looking for. HBO indeed has had a big year in the horror realm already after their adaptation of Stephen King’s The Outsider gripped the world. All indications so far are that Lovecraft Country offers up an even more terrifying experience than the King mini-series as it delves into America’s troubled past while also drawing on Lovecraft’s disturbing worlds to craft a truly harrowing descent into horror both terrifyingly supernatural and shockingly real.
Source: HBO