The latest edition of San Diego Comic-Con is underway, bringing exciting news this week. That includes a first look at upcoming Peacock horror series “Teacup,” executive produced by James Wan and inspired by Robert McCammon‘s Stinger.
The first two episodes of “Teacup” premiere on Peacock on Thursday, October 10, followed by two episodes weekly through Halloween.
Watch the brand new teaser below, which gives nothing away in terms of plot, but its bone-crunching sound design and visuals promise a gruesome time ahead. Also take a look at the fresh batch of images that introduce the central characters with ominous teases of horror.
The series from Atomic Monster, UCP, and showrunner Ian McCulloch (“Yellowstone”) follows a disparate group of people on a ranch who must come together in the face of a mysterious threat in order to survive.
Scott Speedman (The Strangers), Yvonne Strahovski (“The Handmaid’s Tale”), and Chaske Spencer (“Jessica Jones”, The Twilight Saga), Kathy Baker, Boris McGiver, Caleb Dolden, Emilie Bierre, Luciano Leroux star in “Teacup.”
James Wan said, “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 — often lacking in edgy narratives. Add in our incredibly talented cast led by Yvonne Strahovski, Scott Speedman and Chaske Spencer and fans are in for a true edge-of-your-seat experience. Teacup defies easy labels. It’s a genre-bending blend of horror, mystery, and drama, with layers that unfold like a captivating puzzle. It goes beyond chills and thrills and holds up a mirror to humanity, exploring the darkness that resides within us all. We hope you enjoy this wild ride as much as we’ve loved creating it!”
TEACUP — “My Little Lighthouse” Episode 102 — Pictured: Rob Morgan as Orson McNab– (Photo by: Mark Hill/Peacock)
Showrunner/Executive Producer Ian McCulloch details how his series differs from the book and what to expect:
“When Atomic Monster first approached me about creating a series adaptation of Robert McCammon’s Stinger—a no-holds-barred, gargantuan spectacle of a novel along the lines of The Stand, Independence Day and Mars Attacks—to be honest, I didn’t want to throw my hat in the ring. I’m not a spectacle writer. I’m a less-is-more writer. I gravitate more toward what are known as keyhole epics. Large stories told through small lenses. Think Signs, The Thing, A Quiet Place.
“But here’s the thing. I read Stinger and it stayed with me. Wouldn’t leave me alone. I just couldn’t stop thinking about its razor-sharp premise, how it unfolds over the course of a single harrowing day, and about the relatable and real family McCammon puts center stage. That’s when the flash bang-light bulb idea hit…
“What if I adapted Stinger in a way that honors the book and stays true to the kinds of stories I like to tell? Keep the conceit. Keep Stinger’s most effective elements. Take away the large ensemble. Take away the giant set pieces. Even take away the book’s crowded town setting. The adaptation would be like an acoustic guitar version of, say, a Radiohead song. It won’t have the production value, electronic instruments, loops, or synthesized bells and whistles but it will still have the melody, the structure, the lyrics, the real magic at the core, all the stuff that makes a great song a great song.
“All of which is to say I could suddenly see exactly what to do and how to do it. Two weeks later, Atomic Monster had the script for the first episode. Soon after that, Peacock bought it. Not so long after that, both my creative and career dreams actually started coming true as more scripts were written, hires made, actors cast, sets built, and production began…
“Of course, during production the series changed and evolved. Just as it should. 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. 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.”
E.L. Katz (The Haunting of Bly Manor, Channel Zero) helms the first two episodes.
Executive producers include James Wan (The Conjuring Universe, Archive 81, M3GAN), Michael Clear (Archive 81, Swamp Thing) and Rob Hackett (Archive 81, I Know What You Did Last Summer) for Atomic Monster, Francisca X. Hu, Kevin Tancharoen.
TEACUP — “Think About the Bubbles” Episode 101 — Pictured: (l-r) Caleb Dolden as Arlo Chenoweth, Yvonne Strahovski as Maggie Chenoweth, Emilie Bierre as Meryl Chenoweth, Scott Speedman as James Chenoweth — (Photo by: Mark Hill/Peacock)
TEACUP — “Think About the Bubbles” Episode 101 — Pictured: (l-r) Luciano Leroux as Nicholas Shanley, Emilie Bierre as Meryl Chenoweth— (Photo by: Mark Hill/Peacock)
TEACUP — “Quite For No Reason” Episode 103 — Pictured: (l-r) Chaske Spencer as Ruben Shanley, Scott Speedman as James Chenoweth — (Photo by: Mark Hill/PEACOCK)
TEACUP — “Think About the Bubbles” Episode 101 — Pictured: (l-r) Caleb Dolden as Arlo Chenoweth, Yvonne Strahovski as Maggie Chenoweth— (Photo by: Daniel McFadden/PEACOCK)
TEACUP — “My Little Lighthouse” Episode 102 — Pictured: Kathy Baker as Ellen Chenoweth– (Photo by: Daniel McFadden/PEACOCK)
TEACUP — “My Little Lighthouse” Episode 102 — Pictured: Yvonne Strahovski as Maggie Chenoweth — (Photo by: Mark Hill/Peacock)
TEACUP — “You Don’t Know What It Means To Win” Episode 106 — Pictured: (l-r) Luciano Leroux as Nicholas Shanley, Chaske Spencer as Ruben Shanley, Diany Rodriguez as Valeria Shanley — (Photo by: Mark Hill/PEACOCK)
