HBO's adaptation of Matt Ruff's Lovecraft Country will be released at last in 2020. An official date has yet to be announced, but it's probably a safe bet to say that it will be closer to fall, given that shooting still hasn't completed.
The filmmakers haven't divulged a great deal about the project, but for those of us who have read the book, there's plenty to be excited about. Here are some things we're hoping to see from Lovecraft Country, the TV show.
9 Continuous Story
One of the more surprising aspects of Matt Ruff's book is that the description given on the book only covers the first chapter. While that chapter is one of the longest in the book, other chapters branch off into other characters and their perspectives.
That's not a bad thing, but the idea of a road trip across the Jim Crow South as intimated by the book's dust jacket is never fully realized. We're hoping that Lovecraft Country realizes that idea to the fullest and gives us the road trip with Lovecraftian monsters we deserve.
8 Comeuppance For Racists
Matt Ruff doesn't downplay how awful the Jim Crow era of the South was. Readers get the sense that he does understand the trauma inflicted upon the descendants of slaves throughout his book. But every time a racist, white supremacist meets their end in the book, it's through a Lovecraftian monster or other white supremacists themselves.
Lovecraft Country as a book isn't necessarily a revisionist history, but it certainly isn't a straight historical retelling either. We don't need to have a Django Unchained redux, but we're hoping that Atticus and his crew get to take a swipe at those who seek to enslave them.
7 Good Social/Racial Commentary
It's important to note that while J.J. Abrams and Jordan Peele are the producers of Lovecraft Country, Misha Green is the showrunner. For those of you who may not be aware, Green was also the showrunner for a WGN show that aired from 2016 to 2017 called Underground.
That show depicted the creation of the Underground Railroad and a handful of slaves that managed to escape the clutches of slavery. The show pulled no punches in its depictions of the evils of slavery while also feeling relevant to today's racial struggles. We're keeping our fingers crossed that Green is given enough free rein to make Lovecraft Country pack a punch.
6 More Of Atticus And Montrose
With the format of the book feeling like a collection of stories rather than an entire story, the narrative time we get to learn about the main character, Atticus, and his father, Montrose, is limited. The first chapter of the book leads readers to believe that there is a very complex relationship between these two individuals, but Atticus ends up spending more time with his uncle than his father by the book's conclusion.
While much of the TV series' plot is still under wraps, IMDb lists Chase Brown as being cast in the role of Young Atticus and presumably having an appearance in every episode. We're hoping that this means we'll get to see more of the interactions and conflicts between the two benefit from a more complete story arc.
5 A Solid Season Finale
While Lovecraft Country absolutely has the potential to be extended into multiple seasons, so far only one has been confirmed. Misha Green's previous series Underground, despite even getting a brief appearance at the White House, only lasted two seasons.
That's not to say that this will be a repeat, but Lovecraft Country probably isn't going to be the next Game of Thrones. We're hoping that whatever Green has in store for us that not too many threads will be left open ended at the conclusion of the season.
4 More Jordan Peele, Less J.J. Abrams
A few weeks ago, a little indie film by the name of The Rise of Skywalker, directed by J.J. Abrams, was released in theaters. Though the film has managed to gross a boatload of money and will likely be joining the $1 billion dollar club before too long, it has proven to be a very divisive film for Star Wars fans.
It is hard to know exactly what attracted Abrams to Lovecraft Country and to what degree he's actually involved in the making of it, but we're hoping that fellow executive producer Jordan Peele has had more of a presence. Peele has made two outstanding films of his own, with Get Out being one of the most fascinating commentaries on race in the 2010s. (Whatever happens, we're just hoping there are no random appearances from Emperor Palpatine here.)
3 Plenty Of Action
Matt Ruff's novel is by no means boring, but the pacing isn't always the greatest. In the most recent paperback edition of his book, Ruff says in an interview featured at the end of the novel, "Lovecraft Country started out as a TV series pitch. I wanted to do a show like The X-Files in which a recurring cast... had weekly paranormal adventures."
This is not a terrible description of the book. Like a TV series, not every chapter of the book has quite the same amount of drive and action as others do. We're hoping that the TV series manages to avoid this and keep the action paced better than the book managed to do.
2 Horrific Monsters
One of the recurring themes in Lovecraft Country is the monsters/monstrous behavior that existed in the humans that proves to be far more terrifying than anything else in the book. This is one of the best things about the book, but we're hoping that HBO is also going to give us some Lovecraftian monsters worthy of our nightmares.
So far, the footage we've seen has been light on special effects (which makes sense given that most episodes probably still haven't entered post-production), so we're hoping that the HBO money not being spent on dragons and thrones gets spent on some awesomely terrifying monsters in Lovecraft Country.
1 More Complex Villains
Without giving too many spoilers from the book away, the drive of the villains in Lovecraft Country mostly boils down to the desire for power and exploiting the most vulnerable (i.e. racial minorities) to achieve it. This motivation certainly is enough to propel a villain, but Ruff doesn't explore the villains a great deal beyond that.
The book's overarching villain is Caleb Braithwaite, but he appears to have been changed to "Christina Braithwhite" for the TV series. Here's hoping Green explores more with Abbey than Ruff did with Caleb.
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