James Wan’s Horror Series ‘Teacup’ Reveals Gruesome First Footage at Comic-Con
Peacock’s forthcoming horror series Teacup revealed its premiere date and frightening first footage — but not too much else — during its panel at San Diego Comic-Con on Thursday.
Executive producers James Wan (Saw, Aquaman) and Ian McCulloch (Yellowstone) and stars Yvonne Strahovski, Scott Speedman and Chaske Spencer took part in the event for the series, and they all remained fairly tight-lipped to avoid giving away too much. Teacup is set to launch with its first two half-hour episodes on Oct. 10, followed by two episodes being released weekly through Halloween.
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Hailing from Wan’s banner Atomic Monster, Teacup adapts author Robert McCammon’s book Stinger and centers on a group of individuals in rural Georgia who must put their differences aside to survive a mysterious threat. During the panel, McCulloch explained that the series pared down the sprawling book to make it feel more focused on specific characters.
Wan explained that McCulloch focused on “telling it from an intimate perspective.” He added, “[We] focus on the characters and the predicament they’re going through, but we don’t need to fill it out with a bunch of stuff we don’t need.”
One clip shown during the event was edited down to trim some of the grislier moments but was still notably gory. Wan called the series “meditative” at times but said it can also be “so big and scary.” He said that their goal with the gruesome elements was “using it in the right way to tell the story.”
Strahovski noted that this was perhaps a different type of project than she envisioned tackling after working on The Handmaid’s Tale. “After The Handmaid’s Tale, I honestly didn’t think anything would be as emotionally challenging. I thought, ‘This will be easy,'” the actress said with a laugh. She added that what drew her to the series was its family storyline as the foundation: “It’s not just a genre piece.”
That said, Strahovski also recalled getting squeamish after seeing a particularly graphic prosthetic. “This genuinely made me feel sick,” she admitted.
Speedman said that working on Teacup reminded him of starring in the 2008 horror film The Strangers. He explained that he plays family man James in Teacup and shared, “We meet him when we’re in deep conflict in the family.”
The series filmed outside of Atlanta in an area surrounded by forest. “I wanted this show, this production to feel like the best summer camp ever,” McCulloch said. “You see it on the screen — the scope of the show changed because we realized what we had and what the audience could look at, which was this beautiful forest.”
McCulloch revealed that the series takes place over 48 hours and that he can’t explain why the series is called Teacup, but that it would be clear to viewers within the first few episodes.
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