It’s no secret that Jordan Peele has managed to transform himself from one of the funny minds from
Key and Peele into one of Hollywood’s busiest creatives—one who puts a big old twist on every horror trope imaginable, at that for an extra dose of cultural commentary. Look at films like
Get Out and
Us, or even the updated
Twilight Zone for further proof.So when HBO announced back in 2017 that it had picked up Peele’s latest project,
Lovecraft Country, people were pumped. Since then, fans have been counting down the days to the premiere, which is nearly here. The anticipated pilot (which is also produced by J.J. Abrams and showrunner Misha Green),
debuts August 16 on Crave. Read on to learn all you need to know about this unique series that's sure to generate lots of conversation.[video_embed id='2012763']RELATED: 'Lovecraft Country' cast explore supernatural and real-life horrors in new series[/video_embed]
This is a cast to talk aboutA lot of people have been pointing to Jonathan Majors as the next up-and-coming young actor thanks to his work on Spike Lee’s
Da 5 Bloods and his turn in
The Last Black Man in San Francisco. Meanwhile Emmy winner Courtney B. Vance (
American Crime Story) and four-time Emmy nominee Michael K. Williams (who played the same character as Majors in
When They See Us) have their own built-in audiences thanks to a variety of projects over the years.And then there’s Jurnee Smollett, who has been doing the acting thing since she was a little girl (remember when she played Michelle Tanner’s best friend on
Full House?). She recently revealed to
The Hollywood Reporter that she's super selective with her roles, which explains why fans haven’t seen as much from her as they might expect. She’s caught more people’s attention lately thanks to movies like
Birds of Prey, but she told
THR that when she read the
Lovecraft Country script she really, really wanted the role of Leti. Having worked with Misha Green on the slave drama
Underground she had that relationship already established, and luckily Green really wanted her for the part, too.
It’s a timely prestige dramaPrestige TV can mean high-quality, but it’s also an industry term that usually applies to shows on certain esteemed cable networks and yes, this show definitely qualifies. The series is developed from the 2016 dark horror novel by Matt Ruff and it features complex characters, creatures and a storyline that goes in-depth in each episode.So what makes it timely? This isn’t just any regular old horror sci-fi series: this is one that uses horror as an allegory for racism. However, in certain episodes, the underlying racism comes to the fore as the show delves into police brutality, segregation and other issues from the '50s
Jim Crow era that unfortunately, resonates today.“The monsters are a metaphor for the racism that's kind of always been through America and even globally,” Green said recently during a show press conference. “And I think that, for me, genre works best when it is the metaphor on top of the real life emotions that you explore in the real life problems.”
Yes, ‘Lovecraft Country’ is definitely a nod to that LovecraftBy now the horror fans out there have probably put together that this series, and the source material, is a nod to horror author H.P. Lovecraft, whose monsters are kind of literary legends by now. On one hand, that could have been problematic because Lovecraft was openly racist. But Ruff and now Green are among the modern writers who are recognizing the author’s contribution to the genre while completely rejecting his bigotry.“I was familiar with Lovecraft; I also was familiar with his history as a person,” Green told
The Wrap. “So I had read his stories but I wasn’t bananas like I think that a lot of people get bananas. I was like, they’re good and I can definitely see the influences—but I can definitely read them and see the parts where you’re being racist right there in your own stories. So for me, it was hard to divorce those two things, especially when I can go and read horror that doesn’t have blatant racist things happening right in the text. So I didn’t feel any kind of sacredness to H.P. Lovecraft in that. I was like, ‘Lovecraft Country’ is a dope-ass title though.”
Gives a whole new meaning to the term “genre-bending”In that vein, you can expect a bunch of different things to be going on in
Lovecraft Country. The series revolves around the story of Atticus “Tic” Freeman (Jonathan Majors), a Korean war vet who returns home to Chicago after his father Montrose (Michael K. Williams) goes missing. There he reconnects with his Uncle George (Courtney B. Vance) and his childhood friend Leti (Jurnee Smollett), and the trio take a road trip to Ardham, Mass. where they believe Montrose has gone. Along the way they work on George’s guide for Black travellers, a fictional nod to
the real Green Book from that era, while also discovering a familial link to a secret society known as the Sons of Adam (a take on the KKK).That plot itself definitely makes for a compelling story on its own, but right from the show’s opening sequence (which involves a ton of CGI horror nods) it’s clear that this story will take viewers much further. Think of it as a revisionist history with monsters and other sci-fi twists, coupled with important social commentary.“Our heroes essentially are going on a quest to bring down white supremacy, and we are still on that quest today in 2020 as Black Americans; because racism is such a demonic spirit, you know, it’s something that we are still fighting off,” Smollett said.[video_embed id='2001526']RELATED: Michael B. Jordan launches #ChangeHollywood initiative[/video_embed]
A killer soundtrackDid you ever think you would hear the likes of Rihanna or Cardi B. in a historical series? Well get ready, because
Lovecraft Country mixes up its musical soundtrack as often as it seems to switch genres. “We found that really worked well, this idea of using modern music to bridge time; to take a period piece off the wall, and it’s not a portrait anymore that you’re stepping into,” Green said during the press conference. “You’re bringing it here to the ground with us today, and music is a great bridge of time. That was another thing I knew I was going to bring to this project as well, and it’s just so fun to play some Cardi B. in 1950 and have it resonate just as much as it does today.”
By the way, this doesn’t take place in the SouthBridging music and eras, subverting tropes and using fictional horror to address real-life horror was important to Green in writing and developing
Lovecraft Country, but so was another thing: making sure that this show wasn’t set in the South.“It’s all in the North which was one of the things when reading the book that really struck me. Immediately you think of Jim Crow South and you go South, Jim Crow South, but Jim Crow was everywhere at the time,” she explained. “That was really important that it was clear for us that the show was taking place in the North and to understand that this was a problem all across America.”
Lovecraft Country debuts Sunday, August 16 on Crave.[video_embed id='2008954']BEFORE YOU GO: Jurnee Smollett defends her brother Jussie’s innocence[/video_embed]
