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The Conjuring (2013), Saw (2004) and Insidious (2010) have solidified director James Wan's status as a horror movie mogul, and in the build up to spooky season he’s switching out the big screen for the best streaming services with the arrival of his new Peacock original horror series Teacup.
Inspired by the narrative of Robert McCammon’s 1988 novel Stinger, the series hones in on the small-town horror genre and will arrive on Peacock October 10, with two episodes releasing weekly through to Halloween. In addition to show creator and writer Ian McCulloch, Wan has executive produced the show under his Atomic Monster production company, joining forces with fellow horror directors E.L. Katz (The Haunting of Bly Manor), John Hyams (Chucky), and Chloe Okuno (Watcher), along with Kevin Tancharoen (The Brothers Sun).
The recently released trailer (which you can view below) begins with a seemingly wholesome montage of family life in rural Georgia, introducing cast members Yvonne Strahovski (The Handmaid’s Tale), Scott Speedman (Grey’s Anatomy), Rob Morgan (Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty), and Chaske Spencer (Banshee). This peaceful facade is broken when a young kid called Arlo (Caleb Dolden) wanders into the woods, returning to say the “man in his head” says a family is trapped.
Over the weekend, Teacup had its world premiere at Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas, showing its first two episodes followed by an open Q&A session with the cast and crew. As reported in an article by IndieWire, McCulloch stated that “the series is now very much its own thing: a puzzle-box mystery, an edge-of-your-seat thriller, a can’t-but-must look horror story, a family drama, a science fiction epic”, when discussing the decision to down-size from its inspired source.
Adding to McCulloch’s statement was Wan, who shared how he became attached to the project during its early stages of conception; “After reading Robert McCammon’s book ’Stinger,’ the entire team at Atomic Monster felt a spark. The story had all the ingredients for a captivating series and Ian McCulloch had a vision to bring it to life in a fresh way that was both startling and darkly atmospheric, but filled with a rich sense of humanity.”
With the streaming premiere of Teacup on the way, Wan’s step into the small-town horror genre sets this project apart from his previous works in supernatural (The Conjuring) and body (Saw) horror, which make up some of the best horror movies made, so it seems as though Teacup is in very good hands.