Fall TV Preview

THE CHILLING ADVENTURES OF SABRINA

NETFLIX | OCTOBER 26

With the arrival of Netflix’s Chilling Adventures of Sabrina series, the television Archieverse journeys into the supernatural. Gone are the laughs of the 1990s TGIF staple, replaced with a program that Veronica Lodge would describe as “full dark, no stars.”

The show draws inspiration from the comic by Riverdale showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Robert Hack. But as Aguirre-Sacasa told us, the TV Sabrina is its own animal entirely.

“The comic book is very, very dark, very violent, very transgressive, and almost, I won't say it's nihilistic, but it's pretty hard-core,” says Aguirre- Sacasa. “And when you translate something like that to a movie or a TV show, stuff that you wouldn't mind having drawings do or say is very different than what you might want living, breathing people to say or do or experience.”

Will the show deliver the creepy thrills of its comic counterpart? “It is not quite as dark as the comic book,” he says. “Though I will say the deeper into the series we go, the more into horror we go.”

The series could flapjack like a house of tarot cards if the right actors aren’t involved. Fortunately, the cast is led by Mad Men’s Kiernan Shipka in the title role, a character trying to get the balance between her human and witch sides right. Following a quick casting period (“I think the whole process probably happened within 20 days, start to finish,” Shipka tells us), the 18-year-old actress adjusted to the world of Greendale with ease.

“Going into the story I felt really comfortable knowing who she was,” says Shipka, “And then obviously you discover more as you go.”

So how does one create a character that is steeped in the occult? “My main source material was probably the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina comic,” Shipka says. “Obviously the show is closest to the most recent comic, but it doesn't follow it exactly, so there's a lot of room to play.”

Miranda Otto, best known for her work in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, co-stars as Zelda, one of Sabrina’s strict aunts. She describes the conflict her character and Sabrina face as being about the disconnect between institutional expectations and personal aspirations.

“Zelda wants Sabrina to be a devout witch,” Otto says. “She has certain doubts about things within the church. On the one hand, when she chastises Sabrina for her behavior when she steps out of line, I think at the same time there's a part of her that is invigorated by Sabrina's strength and her ability to kind of dissect these things.”

Ultimately though, Shipka thinks that fans will connect to the characters on a fundamental level.

“The reason why I love it so much is because this show is so relatable, despite the fact that it's about witches. Sabrina’s struggle is so real, so analogous to a teenage experience.” — CHRIS CUMMINS

THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE

AMAZON | OCTOBER 5

The Man in the High Castle became quite chaotic toward the end of its second season with the German conspiracy at its core, but with a global war narrowly avoided, the stage is set for a shift in the power structure among the American Reich, the Pacific States, and the resistance fighters. A surprising link between Juliana Crane (Alexa Davalos) and Trade Minister Tagomi (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa) will lead the pair to work out once and for all the mystery of the films while John Smith (Rufus Sewell) and his family struggle with the restrictions of the Nazi high society in New York.

Joe Blake (Luke Kleintank) is sent on a diplomatic mission to San Francisco, and he and Juliana will finally have a chance to reach a turning point in their relationship. The Neutral Zone will enter the limelight in the coming season, with Jason O’Mara (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) joining the cast to play Wyatt Price, who fled the war in Europe and whose family immigrated to New York from Ireland as refugees, then fled west again ahead of the Nazi invasion. Wyatt has learned to survive as a hustler, trading in various black market goods and services, and he should be an interesting addition this season. — MICHAEL AHR

STAR WARS RESISTANCE

DISNEY XD | OCTOBER 7

Although Star Wars Rebels came to a shocking end earlier this year, another animated series has arrived on Disney XD to take its place. Star Wars Resistance ditches the Prequel era in favor of a new generation of rebel heroes fighting against the evil First Order. The series takes place six months before the start of The Force Awakens, offering us a rare look at the days before Rey went on her epic adventure across the galaxy. Resistance stars pilot Kazuda Xiono (Christopher Sean), who is recruited for a top secret spy mission by Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) into the heart of the First Order.

Poe’s not the only character you’ll recognized on the show. Gwendoline Christie will also reprise her role as Captain Phasma and Rachel Butera will voice General Leia. Oh, and cute little BB-8 is along for the adventure as well. Along with a new cast and setting, Resistance also sports a new, anime-inspired art style that sets it apart from anything that’s come before. — JOHN SAAVEDRA

INTO THE DARK

HULU | OCTOBER 5

�Blumhouse Productions has become a horror powerhouse by spinning lowbudget scares into box office gold. Now Blumhouse is bulking up its TV arm, aiming to replicate their spooky cinematic success on the small screen with highprofile projects like HBO’s Sharp Objects and the TV adaptation of The Purge. Keeping the thrills coming, Blumhouse Television is bringing horror anthology series Into the Dark to Hulu. Into the Dark will release new bone-chilling, feature-length episodes on the first Friday of every month, with each episode inspired by a holiday from the month of its release.

The first episode, “The Body,” is set on Halloween night. We can’t wait for a year’s worth of Blumhouse’s crowd-pleasing terrors. — NICK HARLEY

MANIC

NETFLIX | NOW STREAMING

Director Cary Fukunaga proved that television could be more than just a writer’s medium after helming all of HBO’s transcendent first season of True Detective. Draping the proceedings in a Southern Gothic coat of doom and gloom and dazzling audiences with show-stopping displays of technical proficiency, Fukunaga’s filmmaking style was one of the show’s biggest appeals. Featuring the reunion of Superbad co-stars Emma Stone and Jonah Hill, as well as Justin Theroux and the legendary Sally Field in supporting roles, Maniac has just as much jawdropping talent in front of the camera as behind.

Maniac follows Annie Landsberg (Stone) and Owen Milgrim (Hill), two troubled strangers drawn to the facilities of Neberdine Pharmaceutical and Biotech for a three-day drug trial that promises to repair any ailment of the mind with no complications or sideeffects. Needless to say, things don’t go entirely as advertised. Fukunaga is given room to flex his talents as the mind-bending season goes deep into the psyches of our protagonists, spanning decades and different realities altogether. All 10 episodes are currently streaming on Netflix. — NICK HARLEY

DAREDEVIL

NETFLIX | OCTOBER 19

As far as Hell’s Kitchen is concerned, Daredevil died at the end of The Defenders. But viewers know that Matt Murdock lives on, sheltered in the same church he often turns to for spiritual and emotional support. The question was never if we would get another season of Daredevil, but rather, when.

The wait is almost over. With a new showrunner (The Man in the High Castle’s Erik Oleson), new characters, including Joanne Whaley as the mysterious Sister Maggie, and the return of Vincent D’Onofrio as Wilson Fisk, Daredevil season 3 should take back Hell’s Kitchen in style.

“I wanted to tell a thriller that is tonally between season one of this show and The Sopranos,” Erik Oleson says. “It is much darker and character driven, the action sequences are violent and explosive. It’s very much Daredevil and yet there are real stakes in all of these action sequences. There are emotional decisions being made, there are characters who die, there are fights that Matt loses.”

Oleson has drawn inspiration from Daredevil comics stories like Kevin Smith and Joe Quesada’s “Guardian Devil” and the classic “Born Again” by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli, but don’t expect this season to adapt either of those tales. “It is not a predictable season,” Oleson says. “There are moments that resonated with me tonally that I used for inspiration in an original story. I am not using a direct translation from any of the comics, I think that that would have been a mistake. I wanted to give the audience what they wanted but not in the way that they expected.”

But the themes of the new season have a decidedly more real world basis.

“We have a design to the season that is framed around a central theme for me which is that our fears enslave us,” Oleson says. “Daredevil, being ‘the man without fear,’ was an interesting jumping off point.

As I am observing the world around us right now, the country is very divided [and] the world has a lot of problems. I think that it’s everyone’s fears that manifest in ways that put us against one another. Villains who are able to capitalize on our fears and bring us down."

Who might those villains be? Well, other than the aforementioned Wilson Fisk, Marvel is keeping quiet, but Oleson has some hints that will certainly intrigue fans.

“I think that there’s another character on the show who is a very physical threat to Matt...who can match him blow to blow,” Oleson says. “We will hopefully see that character as a person with his own wants, needs, and desires. That way that they clash, it will illuminate aspects of Matt’s character and this other villain. I’m really interested in using action and all of these other elements to more deeply draw the characters.” Matt Murdock is dead. Long live Matt Murdock. — MIKE CECCHINI

BLACK LIGHTNING

THE CW | OCTOBER 9

Amongst the pantheon of CW superhero shows, Black Lightning sets itself apart as a series willing to address real world problems. Jefferson Pierce aka Black Lightning (Cress Williams) doesn’t just deal with traditional supervillains, he deals with police brutality, institutional racism, and our country’s disturbing history of experimenting on its African- American citizens.

The first season of Black Lightning was, refreshingly, not an origin story for Jefferson Pierce, who came out of retirement as Black Lightning rather than building the identity anew. Instead, it was an origin story for his daughters Anissa (Nafessa Williams) and Jennifer (China Anne McClain), who learned about their superhero legacy as their own powers began to manifest. The second season, which kicks off Oct. 9, will no doubt see more Pierce family team-ups, both on the superhero field and off, on this show that highlights family and community as the greatest strengths of all. — KAYTI BURT

HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE

NETFLIX |OCTOBER 12

Everyone likes a good ghost story. And few ghost stories have stood the test of time like Shirley Jackson's 1959 classic novel The Haunting of Hill House. Jackson's haunted tale about a group of four people from different backgrounds searching for the paranormal in the titular 80-year-old mansion has been adapted into two different films--one in 1963 and one in 1999. Now it's coming to television as a 10-episode series thanks to Netflix.

The Haunting of Hill House will star Michiel Huisman (Game of Thrones), Carla Gugino, and Henry Thomas as part of the crew investigating Hill House. The series will be directed by Netflix's go-to horror fan, Mike Flanagan (Hush, Octopus, Gerald's Game). Will it be possible to sustain the proper level of horrific tension for ten full episodes? if any story can do it, it's this one. —ALEC BOJALAD

THE ROMANOFFS

AMAZON | OCTOBER 12

What a weird, potentially wonderful premise! The Romanoffs isn’t the straight historical drama you might expect from the title, but rather a contemporary anthology series that tells the stories of different people around the world who believe themselves to be descendants of the Russian royal family, the House of Romanov. Each episode will have a different cast, location, and story.

Written, directed, and produced by Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner, The Romanoffs was one of the hottest series properties of the past few years, with Amazon winning a bidding war to acquire it. The eight-episode first season has a massive $70 million budget and a long cast list which includes: Aaron Eckhart, Christina Hendricks, Jack Huston, Diane Lane, Amanda Peet, Paul Reiser, Corey Stoll, Noah Wyle, and Radha Mitchell, among many, many others.— KAYTI BURT

CASTLEVANIA

NETFLIX | OCTOBER 26

The first season of Netflix's Castlevania animated series was nothing short of a miracle. Sure, mega nerd filmmaker Adi Shankar and brilliant writer Warren Ellis were behind the show, but making a faithful (and good) video game adaptation would not be an easy task. Many others before them had failed miserably. But as sure as Dracula will always rise from the grave to haunt Wallachia once again, Castlevania became the first successful game-to-screen adaption of our time. While the first season was just a taste of what Castlevania could do — running only four episodes — the second season promises eight episodes of bloody goodness. — JOHN SAAVEDRA

STAN AGAINST EVIL

IFC | OCTOBER 31

After ending season two on a cliffhanger, Stan Against Evil has to find a way to restore its universe before it can get into some monster-of-theweek fun. Stan (John C. McGinley), with the help of Evie (Janet Varney), has finally put the passing of his wife behind him, which means the show is ready to explore new, gorey territory.

To do so, series creator Dana Gould enlisted a dynamite group of guest stars for season three, including Maria Bamford, Scott Adsit, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, David Koechner, and Matt Braunger. Season two was an improvement over the first season, so we’re expecting big things from the third installment of IFC’s horror comedy.— CHRIS LONGO