AMC and Ridley Scott are about to haunt your dreams all over again. And this time they are doing it in a historical, but terrifyingly topical, fashion.
The network announced Friday it’s renewed its first-ever anthology series, “The Terror,” for a second season. This installment hails from Scott (who executive produced the first season) and co-creators Alexander Woo (“True Blood”) and Max Borenstein (“Kong: Skull Island,” “Godzilla”).
According to the official logline, the next iteration of the anthology series will be set during World War II and center on an uncanny specter that menaces a Japanese-American community from its home in Southern California to the internment camps to the war in the Pacific.
“I’m deeply honored to be telling a story set in this extraordinary period,” said Woo. “We hope to convey the abject terror of the historical experience in a way that feels modern and relevant to the present moment. And the prospect of doing so with a majority Asian and Asian-American cast is both thrilling and humbling.”
“As a history-buff and genre geek (not to mention a conscious American today), it’s clear that truth is always scarier than fiction,” said Borenstein. “This season of ‘The Terror’ uses as its setting one of the darkest, most horrific moments in our nation’s history. The Japanese-American internment is a blemish on the nation’s conscience — and one with dire resonance to current events. I’m thrilled that AMC is giving us the chance to use that darkness as the inspiration for what I hope will be a trenchant, terrifying season of TV.”
The 10-episode second season is expected to air on AMC in 2019.
The first season of “The Terror” — co-created and executive produced by David Kajganich and Soo Hugh — was inspired by the true story of the Royal Navy’s perilous voyage in 1847 while attempting to discover the Northwest Passage, as they are haunted by a supernatural creature. Season 1, which starred Jared Harris, Tobias Menzies and Ciarán Hinds, aired its finale last month.
“‘The Terror’ has given us the opportunity to take a unique approach to the anthology format,” said David Madden, president of original programming for AMC, SundanceTV and AMC Studios. “We loved the concept of beginning with an actual historical event and overlaying it with a fictional horror element, and we are immensely proud of this show’s combination of cinematic scope and intimate character work. We are thrilled to announce a second season and dramatize one of the most chilling and important events of the 20th Century, guided by the vision of the gifted Alexander Woo and Max Borenstein.”
“Our deep appreciation goes to the persistently creative and passionate showrunning team of David Kajganich and Soo Hugh, the incomparable Ridley Scott and the rest of the producing team, and the outstanding cast led by Jared Harris for launching this concept and leaving us on the precipice of terrifying new adventures as we continue with the next chapter of ‘The Terror.’”
Season two of “The Terror” is co-created and executive produced by Woo and Borenstein, from an idea by Borenstein. Woo, who is currently under an overall deal with AMC, serves as showrunner. Executive producers also include Scott, Dan Simmons, David W. Zucker, Alexandra Milchan, Scott Lambert and Guymon Casady.
“The Terror” is an AMC Studios production which hails from Scott Free, Emjag Productions and Entertainment 360. The series is distributed internationally by AMC Studios and premieres across AMC Global markets as well as in certain Amazon Prime Video territories.