LOVECRAFT COUNTRY

BY: Georgia Davis

What do you get when the biggest name in sci-fi media pairs up with the king of socially conscious horror? You get a killer show on HBO. Co-executive producers JJ Abrams and Jordan Peele teamed up on Matt Ruff’s novel Lovecraft Country. The show marks the first significant creation for Black writer and creator, Misha Green.

 

Set in the Jim Crow South, Lovecraft Country follows sci-fi fan Atticus Black (Jonathan Majors) as he travels across the South in search of his father. Along the way, he, his friend, Letitia Dandridge (Jurnee Smollett) and his aunt and uncle deal with the monsters of racism, all while confronting creatures ripped from the pages of an H.P. Lovecraft novel. 

 

Up and comer Jonathan Majors plays our protagonist. After appearing in some highly acclaimed work, Lovecraft Country could propel this young, Black actor into mainstream success. He gained recognition last year for his role in The Last Black Man In San Francisco and most recently starred in Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods. He continues to play multi-faceted characters, which is what he likes most about his Lovecraft Country role.

 

“You get to explore not just the archetypical ideas of what we tend to play,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. “He’s not just this soldier; that’s pretty common. He’s also a bibliophile. He gets to travel, he’s an adventurer … all of that was very apparent to me in the reading of the script.”

 

Though Majors is our main man, it’s the leading lady who may get the biggest career bump. Jurnee Smollett has been in the biz for years, but her name might not be familiar. She recently appeared in Birds of Prey. In the trailer, the actress displays a fierce disposition — one full of empowerment and rage. She’s likely going to come out of this with people begging to work with her.

 

Lovecraft Country was well in the works before the current Black Lives Matter movement, but its themes and story will likely reach a bigger audience. It’s going to be a great ride for these stars.