[Trailer] Jordan Peele’s “Lovecraft Country” Stars Jonathan Majors, Jurnee Smollett

Based on Matt Ruff ‘s novel of the same name, the one-hour drama Lovecraft Country follows Atticus Freeman as he meets up with his friend Letitia and his Uncle George to embark on a road trip across the 1950s Jim Crow America in search of his missing father. This begins a struggle to survive and overcome both the racist terrors of white America and the terrifying monsters that could be ripped from a Lovecraft paperback. Check out the trailer below.

The Lovecraft Country series, premiering on HBO Max on August 16th, features familiar HBO faces such as Michael Kenneth Williams (HBO’s The Wire and Boardwalk Empire) as Atticus’ father, Montrose Freeman, and Courtney B. Vance (HBO’s The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, American Crime Story) as Atticus’ uncle George Freeman. Atticus himself will be played by Jonathan Majors (When We Rise).

Joining Williams, Vance, and Majors, are Jurnee Smollett (HBO’s True Blood, Underground, Friday Night Lights) as Letitia “Leti” Lewis; Wunmi Mosaku (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them) as Leti’s half-sister Ruby Baptiste; Aunjanue Ellis (When They See Us) as Atticus’ aunt and George’s wife, Hippolyta Freeman; Jamie Harris (Kingdom) as county sheriff Eustice Hunt; Abbey Lee (Mad Max: Fury Road) as Christina Braithwhite; Jamie Chung (Once Upon a Time) as Ji-Ah; and Jordan Patrick Smith (Vikings) as William.

 

Atticus (Majors) is a Korean war vet who always has a pulp novel in his back pocket, and wears his heart on his sleeve despite the daily injustice of living in Jim Crow America. His father, Montrose (Williams), however, is hard-headed and secretive, and always believed you can’t live in a fantasy world — making him less-than-thrilled about his son’s love for pulp novels.

It’s Atticus’ uncle (Vance) who’s always been more like a father to him. Warm, funny, and well-read, he was the first to introduce Atticus to the wonderful and strange world of pulp novels. As the publisher of the “Safe Negro Travel Guide” he’s been on enough adventures to understand there’s no place like home.

Letitia “Leti” Lewis (Smollett) hustled her way across the country as an artist protesting for civil rights and now finds herself back home to plant some roots. Her half-sister Ruby (Mosaku) is also a hustler, but her hustles haven’t paid off. Her family ties are tested when she’s presented with an offer she can’t refuse. Hippolyta Freeman (Ellis) is a star-gazer who’s been a housewife most of her life, but has dreams of getting into some adventures of her own. Her itch for adventure will eventually, literally and figuratively, take her to the stars and beyond.

Eustice Hunt (Harris), is a sundown county sheriff with an NAACP complaint file a mile long, and a marine tattoo on the back of his neck so the enemy has something to aim at, gets more than he bargained for when he crosses paths with Atticus; Ji-Ah (Chung) is a seemingly naive nursing student who is thrust into active service when war breaks out, and a rash of soldier disappearances suggests she is more than what she seems.

Christina Braithwhite (Lee) is the only daughter of the leader of a secret order calling themselves the “Sons of Adam.” She’s gone to great lengths to earn her father’s respect but to no avail. She’s going to pave her own path to power, and use Atticus and his family to do it. Willam (Smith) is Christina’s henchman, lover, bodyguard, spy, or whatever else she may need him to be. Blonde-haired, blue-eyed, he’s the “perfect specimen” for the Aryan race.

Along with Jordan Peele (Get Out) and J.J. Abrams (Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker) as executive producers will be showrunner Misha Green (Underground), director of the first episode Yann Demange (‘71), director Daniel Sackheim (HBO’s Game of Thrones and True Detective), Ben Stephenson and Bill Carraro. The Lovecraft Country series is produced by Bad Robot Productions and Monkeypaw Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television.