In many ways, we are in the new golden age of horror, and that also means we are getting horror from different perspectives that strays from typical tropes. Like with Lovecraftian horror that tends to feature one lone, white protagonist confronting the unimaginable cosmic horror. HBO’s Lovecraft Country, based on the 2016 novel by Matt Ruff, imagines a group of African Americans in the 1950s dealing with these eldritch horror along with racism and police brutality:
Here’s the official synopsis:
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.
That’s right, if you’re a Lovecraft fan, everything you love is here. Ancient tomes, ritual sacrifices, terrible monsters ripped from another dimension, strange magic, portals to other worlds, and pure insanity. And add on top of that the tension and terror that comes with knowing these hellish creatures are not the only villains our protagonists have to face!
The show is set to have ten episodes, with Misha Green to serve as show runner. Executive producers include J.J Abrams, Jordan Peele, Bill Carraro, Yann Demange, Daniel Sackheim, and David Knoller. It appears as though this season (which may or may not be the only one) will cover a majority of the events of the book. Does this mean that there might be room to grow the story beyond what was on the page? I know I would tune in.
Lovecraft Country is set to premiere on HBO in August 2020.