MGM+ is reaching the end of an era with its horror hit From nearing its final chapter. Premiering back in 2022, the Lost-like series starring Harold Perrineau has grown from a hidden gem stashed within the smaller streaming service to easily one of its most recognizable properties, praised for its blend of terror and ever-unfolding mysteries. Season 5 has been announced as its last, and expectations are for it to premiere sometime next year. Before then, though, the platform has found its next macabre show that will look to fill that absence with a very X-Files-like premise.
The streamer officially greenlit The Black Tapes, a new eight-episode supernatural horror mystery series that’s set to begin production in Vancouver in January. It’s based on the smash-hit podcast of the same name, which launched in 2015 from creators Terry Miles and Paul Bae and ran for three seasons, totaling 30 episodes by the time it wrapped in 2017. Both Miles and Bae have been tapped as writers and executive producers, with Kearie Peak of Peak Pictures and John Rogers and Jennifer Court of Kung Fu Monkey executive producing alongside them and MGM Studios producing. Two-time Game of Thrones Emmy nominee Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, fresh off returning for Season 2 of Apple TV’s The Last Thing He Told Me, will lead the charge as the enigmatic psychiatrist Dr. Richard Strand.
As one of the earlier horror podcasts to take off, The Black Tapes has been recognized as one of the genre’s more influential titles, reaching over 60 million downloads since its premiere more than a decade ago. The television series adaptation will follow the brilliant Dr. Strand alongside the obsessed, relentless scientist Alex Regan to debunk the titular black tapes, an infamous collection documenting all things paranormal, including “hauntings, possessions, disappearances, and sinister legends.” In trying to unravel these mysteries, however, they learn that the truth runs even deeper, revealing a secret occult world behind our own with an apocalyptic conspiracy that they must race to unwind.
Four franchises, four completely different ways of getting underneath
your skin. This is the one built out of your particular fear, why it works so well on you, and what
it would leave behind.
Your nightmare does not wait outside the door. It waits for you
to close your eyes, which you are going to have to do eventually, because nobody has ever
won that particular argument.
- Freddy is horror’s cruellest idea: a threat that lives in the one place you cannot
guard, cannot lock, and cannot avoid forever. - You are the one who is fine during the film and wide awake at two in the morning. Your
own head is where this does its damage. - These films understood exhaustion as a horror engine. The kids on Elm Street do not lose
because they are weak. They lose because they are tired. - You can lock every door in the house. You still have to sleep.
Your nightmare is not really the doll. It is the face of the
person you tell, and the way they decide, very kindly, that you have imagined all of it.
- Chucky works precisely because he is absurd. That is the trap: the more accurately you
describe him, the less anybody is going to believe you. - You are the one shouting at the screen because the characters are not listening. You
know that feeling from real life too. - The franchise is at its best when the adults in the room are the real obstacle, and you
have met those adults. - By the time somebody finally believes you, you will have handled most of it on your own.
Your nightmare has your number, knows your name, and has almost
certainly been inside your house before. The worst part is that you already know them.
- Scream is the only one of these where the killer takes the mask off and turns out to be
somebody who was at the party. - You are the person who calls the twist out loud before it lands. You watch people the
same way you watch films. - The franchise made the rules of horror part of the plot, which means the survivors are
the ones paying attention. You would be paying attention. - Everybody is a suspect, including the person who just offered to walk you home.
Your nightmare is not really about you. It is about the people
asleep down the hall, and the feeling that whatever is here is not interested in leaving.
- The Conjuring films are domestic horror. The house, the family, the perfectly ordinary
room that quietly stops feeling ordinary. - Your instinct is to get everybody into one room. Your fear is protective rather than
personal, which is rarer than it sounds. - This is the one franchise where belief is the weapon. The people who come through it are
the ones who are not alone and refuse to be. - Whatever is here did not come for you. It came for the household, and you are the one
standing in the hallway.
‘The Black Tapes’ Adds to MGM+’s Catalog of Star-Driven Entertainment
Image via HBO- Image via Apple TV
- Image via Fox
- Image via Prime Video
Image via HBO
Image via Apple TV
Image via Fox
Image via Prime VideoMGM+ is a fitting destination for The Black Tapes, given its success with From and the Steven King series, The Institute, as well as other star-driven vehicles. Michael Wright, the Global Head of MGM+, believes it also meshes well with the platform’s identity around classic storytelling with its approach to tackling the mysteries of the world. “The Black Tapes crafts a compelling story around our cultural fascination with the unexplained, while delivering the cinematic, classic storytelling that MGM+ audiences expect,” he said in an official statement. “With Nikolaj’s compelling presence and the creative vision of John Rogers, Kearie Peak and our talented production team, we’re excited to make something that is both provocative and hugely entertaining.” In his own statement, Rogers expressed his excitement to bring a podcast that he personally loved to an entirely new audience.
“I was an early and passionate fan of The Black Tapes podcast. It’s a unique blend of truly unsettling horror and puzzle-box conspiracy mystery. With Paul and Terry not just executive producing, but also in the writer’s room, we have a chance to both bring The Black Tapes to a new generation of genre fans and deepen and expand the mythos in ways that will surprise long-time supernatural horror fans.”
“I was an early and passionate fan of The Black Tapes podcast. It’s a unique blend of truly unsettling horror and puzzle-box conspiracy mystery. With Paul and Terry not just executive producing, but also in the writer’s room, we have a chance to both bring The Black Tapes to a new generation of genre fans and deepen and expand the mythos in ways that will surprise long-time supernatural horror fans.”
The Black Tapes enters production next year. Stay tuned here at Collider for more updates until then.
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