TAGGED AS: Horror, streaming, TV
A new horror series is coming to Peacock with the bone-chilling, terrifying name of… Teacup? While that title might not inspire shudders on first read, the pedigree behind the limited series should. The creators are horror veterans, and it’s based on a book by one of the great horror authors of the late 20th century.
Teacup has been a while in the making. The show was first announced in December of 2022 and it wasn’t until early this year that Peacock began to announce who would be in the cast (and there are some notable actors). While there haven’t been too many details released yet, here’s everything we know about Teacup ahead of its October 10 premiere date.
(Photo by Christine Bartolucci/Peacock)
James Wan, one of the biggest names in horror these days, is executive producing Teacup. Wan is joined by Ian McCulloch, who wrote the series, and E.L. Katz, who directs it. McCulloch and Katz are also listed as executive producers.
Wan is best known for co-creating the Saw series and directing hit horror movies like Insidious, The Conjuring, and Malignant. He also directed Furious 7 and Aquaman, and he’s served as a producer on recent fun horror releases like M3GAN and Night Swim. Atomic Monster, Wan’s production company, is behind the new series. Wan is also working on another show for Peacock, a sci-fi series starring Simu Liu.
McCulloch, who wrote the series and is listed as the showrunner, is known for work on shows like Yellowstone, Deputy, and Chicago Fire. Katz, the director, oversaw the final season of the horror anthology series Channel Zero and directed episodes of Swamp Thing and The Haunting of Bly Manor.
(Photo by Mark Hill/Peacock)
“Teacup follows a disparate group of people in rural Georgia who must come together in the face of a mysterious threat in order to survive,” according to Peacock’s official logline. There isn’t a lot else to go off of for now, as there hasn’t been much press about the show, and its lone teaser thus far doesn’t reveal a whole lot. But, Teacup is based on a book, which should give some insights into what the show could be.
Teacup is based on the New York Times bestseller Stinger, a 1988 sci-fi horror page-turner by author Robert McCammon. Described by the author as an “outer-space Western,” Stinger takes place in a troubled town called Inferno, Texas, whose troubles get a whole lot worse when two alien spaceships land nearby. The second is a creature called Stinger, described in the book’s synopsis as “a kind of interstellar hunter on a mission he intends to complete, whatever the cost.
“He brings with him an endless array of technological marvels and an infinite capacity for destruction that threaten the existence of Inferno, its inhabitants, and the larger world beyond,” the synopsis continues.
(Photo by Mark Hill/Peacock)
Clearly, there are some adaptational differences. Teacup takes place in Georgia, not Texas, and early chatter about the series seems to be emphasizing its horror and thriller aspects. McCammon, who wrote two other New York Times bestsellers in addition to Stinger (The Wolf’s Hour and Swan Song) is a well-regarded horror author, but Stinger is very much sci-fi, too. The book takes place across just 24 hours, while the show spans 48. Whatever the differences, though, the idea of some alien creature on a mission attacking a town is a good concept — and one that James Wan seems well-equipped to tackle.
“During production, the series changed and evolved, just as it should,” McCulloch said in a statement about the adaptation, per The Verge. “Even the title’s different. Stinger is now Teacup. The reasons for this are too spoilery to share, but watch the first few episodes and all will be revealed. Point being, 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 — of the keyhole variety, of course.
(Photo by Mark Hill/Peacock)
“But as singular, strange, and surprising as I hope Teacup is, all you need to do is peel away the layers, characters, situations, and mythology and look behind the thrills, chills, hairpin turns and make-you gasp reveals. Do all that and you’ll see, at its heart, Teacup is still very much standing on the shoulders of Stinger. Just as it should.”
The show appears to be quite gory. Speaking at San Diego Comic-Con, Wan called the series “meditative” but also “so big and scary,” according to The Hollywood Reporter. Yvonne Strahovski, one of the stars, said one particularly graphic prop “genuinely made [her] feel sick.” However, Wan also stressed that the gore was being used “in the right way to tell the story.”
(Photo by Mark Hill/Peacock)
Strahovski, best known for playing Serena Joy Waterford on The Handmaid’s Tale, was the first member of Teacup’s cast to be announced back in February 2024. Strahovski, who also serves as an executive producer, will play the show’s lead, a character named Maggie Chenoweth. Scott Speedman’s casting announcement followed the next day, as the Grey’s Anatomy star will be co-starring as James Chenoweth. (The names of many of the characters have been revealed, but there are no additional details.)
“When I read these scripts, I knew there was going to be a very character-based slow burn,” Speedman told reporters before the series’ Comic-Con panel, according to Deadline. “It takes a while to get going, but then when it does, it just becomes more meaningful and the horror elements kick in.”
(Photo by Mark Hill/Peacock)
Chaske Spencer, a Native American actor who has been in the Twilight films and the recent Marvel TV show Echo, plays Ruben Shanley.
Five new series regulars were announced in March. Kathy Baker, an Emmy-nominated actress for her role in the ‘90s drama Picket Fences, plays Ellen Chenoweth. She’s joined by Boris McGiver, who played the journalist Tom Hammerschmidt in 30 episodes of House of Cards. Luciano Leroux, who plays Javi in Yellowjackets, also stars, as does French-Canadian actress Emilie Bierre and child actor Caleb Dolden.
A teaser trailer for Teacup (above) debuted at San Diego Comic-Con in late July. There’s no real sense of plot in it, but its eerie images on a teacup seem to show something horrible happening to a deer — complete with bone-squelching sound effects. (A gory clip was shown to Comic-Con audiences, but it has not been made available to view online.) Some promotional images were released at Comic-Con as well.
That was followed by another teaser in mid-August, only slightly less cryptic than the first in that it actually reveals scenes from the show. We see a house presumably in the countryside, complete with a big barn; we see characters in various states of confusion and distress; and we see someone in a gas mask wielding a torch, among other things. It still remains to be seen what it all means, and what it all amounts to.
(Photo by Mark Hill/Peacock)
The first two episodes of Teacup’s first season will debut on Peacock on October 10. Subsequent episodes will be released two at a time weekly through Halloween.
Teacup: Season 1 (2024) premieres on Peacock with two episodes on October 10, 2024
