Posted in: HBO, Preview, streaming, Trailer, TV, YouTube | Tagged: action, Atticus Black, bleeding cool, books, courtney b vance, drama, HBO, horror, Jonathan Majors, Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Leti, Lovecraft Country, Matt Ruff, novels, preview, Supernatural, teaser, trailer, Uncle George
Lovecraft Country Preview: The World Haunts Every Step of The Journey
Two weekends from now, HBO's supernatural drama Lovecraft Country begins traveling down a road that leads into the heart of this country's darkness (premiering Sunday, August 16). With that in mind, viewers were treated to some fresh looks at the series in the recently-released promo video "HBO: What's New in August 2020." Adapted from Matt Ruff's best-selling 2016 novel of the same name by showrunner/EP Misha Green (Underground), EP Jordan Peele (Get Out), and EP J.J. Abrams, Lovecraft Country introduces us to Koren war vet Atticus Black (Jonathan Majors), who joins up with his friend Letitia "Leti" Dandridge (Jurnee Smollett-Bell) and his Uncle George (Courtney B. Vance) to embark on a road trip to find his missing father and claim a family legacy.
Atticus is known for two things: always having a pulp novel in his back pocket and wearing his heart on his sleeve despite the daily injustice of living in the 1950s Jim Crow America. The trio must survive and overcome both the racist terrors of white America and the malevolent spirits that could be ripped from a Lovecraft paperback. In the following combination of new and previously-released scenes, the deeper the trio find that as they travel further along on their journey, both worlds will haunt (and hunt) them:
Joining Vance, Majors, and Smollett-Bell are Aunjanue Ellis, Elizabeth Debicki, Wunmi Mosaku, Michael K. Williams, Jamie Harris, Abbey Lee, Jamie Chung, Jordan Patrick Smith, Jamie Neumann, Erica Tazel, and Mac Brandt, and Tony Goldwyn. Adapted from Matt Ruff's novel of the same name, Lovecraft Country stems from Academy Award winner Jordan Peele's Monkeypaw Productions, J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot, and WBTV. Yann Demange (Top Boy) directs and executive produces the series opener; with Misha Green writing the pilot and serving as showrunner, as well as executive-producing alongside Peele, Abrams, and Ben Stephenson. Daniel Sackheim (The Americans, True Detective) is directing the second and third episodes of the series, and will also serve as executive producer.
Season 1, Episode 1: "Sundown": Veteran and pulp-fiction aficionado Atticus Freeman (Jonathan Majors) travels from the Jim Crow South to his South Side of Chicago hometown in search of his missing father Montrose (Michael Kenneth Williams). After recruiting his uncle George (Courtney B. Vance) and childhood friend Letitia (Jurnee Smollett) to join him, the trio sets out for "Ardham," MA, where they think Montrose may have gone looking for insight into Atticus' late mother's ancestry. As they journey across the Midwest, Tic, Leti, and George encounter dangers lurking at every turn, especially after sundown. Teleplay by Misha Green; directed by Yann Demange.