Lovecraft Country Trailer Looks Great. Will the J.J. Abrams, Jordan Peele Combo Deliver for HBO?

Monsters in 1950s Jim Crow USA. Horror, meet horror.

By Akhil Arora | Updated: 25 July 2020 01:19 IST

Lovecraft Country Trailer Looks Great. Will the J.J. Abrams, Jordan Peele Combo Deliver for HBO?

Photo Credit: Elizabeth Morris/HBO

Courtney B. Vance, Jonathan Majors, Jurnee Smollett-Bell in Lovecraft Country

Highlights

Lovecraft Country release date is August 17 on Disney+ Hotstar
Trailer for Lovecraft Country features monsters, retro aesthetic
HBO series is based on Matt Ruff’s 2016 novel of the same name

Lovecraft Country trailer is out. At San Diego Comic-Con 2020 — known as Comic-Con@Home this year due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic — HBO unveiled a two-minute trailer for its next big series that's based on Matt Ruff's 2016 novel of the same name. The Lovecraft Country trailer is a surprise given the show isn't due for its panel until Saturday local time in the US. HBO is likely trying to build hype ahead of it — and well, it's working. The Lovecraft Country trailer looks great, be it the retro aesthetic, the monsters, and what looks like a conflict between soldiers from the Middle Ages and World War I.

Naturally, that's a lot. The supernatural elements are courtesy of Ruff's love for Lovecraftian elements — hence the title — whose horrors are combined with the horrors of being black in 1950s racist southern United States of America, a time when Jim Crow laws had created a segregated hellscape for African-Americans. Lovecraft Country will follow Atticus Black (Jonathan Majors, from Da 5 Bloods) as he looks for his missing father — Montrose Freeman (Michael Kenneth Williams, from The Wire) — while being assisted by the likes of Letitia Dandridge (Jurnee Smollett-Bell, from Birds of Prey).

In addition to Majors, Williams, and Smollett-Bell, Lovecraft Country also stars Aunjanue Ellis (When They See Us) as Atticus' aunt Hippolyta Black, Abbey Lee (Mad Max: Fury Road) as a secret order leader's daughter Christina Braithwhite, Jada Harris (The Resident) as Diana Black, Wunmi Mosaku (Damilola, Our Loved Boy) as Letitia's half-sister Ruby Dandridge, Courtney B. Vance (The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story) as Atticus' uncle George Black, Jamie Harris (Rise of the Planet of the Apes) as county sheriff Eustace Hunt, and Jamie Chung (Sucker Punch) as nursing student Ji-Ah.

Behind the scenes, Misha Green (Underground) serves as the creator, showrunner, head writer, and executive producer alongside Jordan Peele, J.J. Abrams, Ben Stephenson, and Bill Carraro. Lovecraft Country is a production of Peele's Monkeypaw Productions, Abrams' Bad Robot Productions, and Warner Bros. Television for HBO.

Lovecraft Country premières August 16 on HBO in the US, and August 17 on Disney+ Hotstar in India.

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