HBO released the first trailer for its highly anticipated series Lovecraft Country on Friday.
The new horror series is produced by Get Out writer and director Jordan Peele, along with Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker director J. J. Abrams.
The trailer hints at a period piece inspired by the everyday violence of racism and the cosmic horror of author H. P. Lovecraft.
Coming soon: HBO released the first trailer for its new horror series Lovecraft Country, which is produced by Jordan Peele and J. J. Abrams, on Friday
The trailer opens with the series lead Atticus Black (The Last Black Man In San Francisco’s Jonathan Majors) as he’s forced to ride in the back of a bus carrying him up to the wilds of New England.
He has a seemingly happy reunion with his uncle George Black, played by The People V. O. J. Simpson’s Courtney B. Vance, and his friend Letitia, played by Birds Of Prey’s Jurnee Smollett-Bell.
After a welcoming party, Atticus confesses why he’s in town to his uncle.
‘The reason I’m back home is my father — he’s gone missing,’ he reveals, as we get our first look at his father Montrose Freeman, played by The Wire’s Michael K. Williams.
Reunion: It opens with Atticus Black (Jonathan Majors) riding on the back of a bus up to the wilds of New England, where he meets his uncle George Black (Courtney B. Vance) and friend Letitia (Jurnee Smollett-Bell)
Spilling the beans: After a welcoming party, Atticus confesses why he’s in town to his uncle. ‘The reason I’m back home is my father — he’s gone missing,’ he reveals
MIA: We get our first look at his father Montrose Freeman, played by The Wire’s Michael K. Williams
‘He wrote me,’ he continues. ‘The place he wants me to go — it’s in Lovecraft country,’ he says, referencing the horror author.
Lovecraft’s fiction, almost exclusively short stories, was filled with demonic creatures that existed beyond standard reality and morality, and many of his stories are celebrated as horror classics.
But the writer was also an unabashed white supremacist, and many of his racist views were filtered through his stories, which Atticus seems to reference.
‘This place… is dangerous,’ George intones over scenes of Atticus and Letitia being assaulted by white police officers deep in the woods at night, before they’re chased down by fantastic creatures.
In the mouth of madness: ‘He wrote me,’ he continues. ‘The place he wants me to go — it’s in Lovecraft country,’ he says, referencing the beloved horror author who was also a virulent white supremacist
Everyday dangers: ‘This place… is dangerous,’ George intones over scenes of Atticus and Letitia being assaulted by white police officers deep in the woods at night
It gets worse: But soon it’s fantastical beasts that chase down Atticus and Letitia
‘I thought the world was one way. I found out it isn’t,’ Letitia says over scenes of firefights from cars.
Atticus leans out of a moving car’s window to fire his gun at a pursuing vehicle, which flips over.
‘I haven’t even gotten to the real strange part,’ Atticus says to his uncle in another scene, just before the trailer cuts to a closeup of a roaring creature as it bares its slobbering rows of teeth.
Action: ‘I thought the world was one way. I found out it isn’t,’ Letitia says over scenes of firefights from cars. Atticus leans out of a moving car’s window to fire his gun at a pursuing vehicle, which flips over
More to come: ‘I haven’t even gotten to the real strange part,’ Atticus says to his uncle in another scene
Payoff: Just then, the trailer cuts to a closeup of a roaring creature as it bares its slobbering rows of teeth
In addition to Peele and Abrams, the series will be led by Underground co-creator Misha Green.
The series is one of two high profile socially conscious horror films that Peele is currently producing.
He co-wrote and produced Candyman, a sequel to the 1992 horror classic, which is directed by co-writer Nia DaCosta.
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The new film isn’t a simple horror project, but will also explore the toll of gentrification on an African American community in Chicago.
Double trouble: Producer Jordan Peele is also producing and co-writing the highly anticipated sequel Candyman, directed by Nia DaCosta; shown in January in Santa Barbara, California