The ‘Monsterland’ Trailer Jump Starts The Spooky Season With A Stellar Cast For Hulu’s Anthology Series

Just a few weeks shy of its release, Hulu has delivered a trailer for its upcoming horror anthology series Monsterland. Starring Kelly Marie Tran, Kaityln Dever, Mike Colter, Taylor Schilling, and others, the show promises “encounters with mermaids, fallen angels, and other strange beasts which drive broken people to desperate acts.”

Based on the short story collection North American Lake Monsters by Nathan Ballingrud, Monsterland hopes to differentiate itself from other anthology series like Hulu’s Castle Rock. In a recent interview, showrunner Laura Mays (Succession, Preacher) explained how the episodes will be self-contained, but also contain a recurring character that will “weave them all together.” As for what drove her to adapt the short story collection, Mays said it spoke to her “because it was deeply personal, character-based horror.”

Via Bloody Disgusting:

“We adapted the stories that felt the most current, relevant, and that we were most connected to; three episodes in ‘Monsterland’ are direct adaptations of Nathan’s stories, and the others are inspired by the collection,” she reveals. “Whenever I’m adapting a story, I always go back to the story a million times, reading it over and over, reminding myself of what is at the core of it. Of course, some of the story will understandably morph and change as you translate a work of fiction into television. But if you keep the heart of the story intact, then you’ve done your job.”

Dever (Booksmart) will kick off the series in the first episode as a struggling waitress who meets a mysterious, brooding stranger that challenges her to change her reality. Tran (Star Wars: The Last Jedi) will appear in the second episode “Iron River, MI” where she plays Lauren, a young woman who returns to her home town to get married but is still haunted by the disappearance of her childhood best friend.

Monsterland premieres October 2 on Hulu.