The First Trailer For FX’s ‘A Christmas Carol’ Promises A Dark And Decidedly Cheerless Tale

For many, the literally fluffy 1992 adaptation of Charles Dickens’s classic novella A Christmas Carol, The Muppet Christmas Carol, is the best (and the only) adaptation ever made of the nearly 200-year-old story. Though this obviously isn’t true, as plenty of other television showrunners and filmmakers have tackled the Dickensian tale over the years, and thanks to the simple fact that A Christmas Carol is in the public domain, pretty much anyone who can string words together and operate a camera can do the same. Like the teams behind Peaky Blinders and Taboo.

Written by Steven Knight, directed by Nick Murphy, produced by Tom Hardy’s company, and starring the likes of Guy Pearce, Andy Serkis, and Vinette Robinson, FX’s upcoming take on A Christmas Carol actually looks like something different. Or, at least that’s the feeling we’re getting from the television movie’s ominous poster and (literally) dark first trailer. What’s more, the official release describes it as “a spine-tingling immersion into Scrooge’s dark night of the soul” in which the “the spirits come for a bitter man’s greed.”

And just in case you’re not sure which spirits they’re referring to, consider Mary Cratchit’s (Robinson) final words to Scrooge (Pearce) in the trailer above. “I am a woman and I have the power to summon such spirits,” she declares. “And I f*cking will.” So, I’m pretty sure those aren’t included in the lyrics to Kermit’s Christmas-themed version of “Rainbow Connection.”

A Christmas Carol premieres Thursday, December 19 at 7:30 p.m. ET/PT on FX.