*With only two episodes remaining in the six-episode limited series “The Terror: Devil in Silver,” showrunners and executive producers Chris Cantwell and Victor LaValle are discussing the creative process behind one of the most unsettling and compelling horror series in recent television.
Executive produced by Ridley Scott, with the first two episodes directed by Emmy nominee Karyn Kusama, the AMC+ and Shudder series follows Pepper, played by Dan Stevens, a working-class moving man who finds himself wrongfully committed to New Hyde Psychiatric Hospital, where he must confront patients working against him, doctors harboring dark secrets, and perhaps the Devil himself.
Crafting a six-episode structure that keeps audiences perpetually off-balance was no small feat. “Six episodes is tight,” Cantwell explained. “We wanted to build out the ensemble and make them real people with their every character arcs, every single one, even characters who are kind of tertiary in terms of the patients or the staff, they have a journey, and we wanted to make sure we tracked all of those.” Once those arcs were locked in, the story found its shape.
For LaValle, adapting his own celebrated novel meant learning to let go. He credited his experience watching the adaptation of his book “The Changeling” for Apple TV as a turning point. “The only way to make this go badly is it has to crack open,” he said. “It can’t be the book but you could make it a terrible version if you fight the whole way or you could lean into the thing and say, oh that sounds amazing.”
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That openness extended to every corner of the collaboration. “It felt in a way like writing the story again, but now with Chris and our other writers and our EPs and our director Karyn Kusama like everybody being a part of that process,” LaValle said. “If you know the book and you watch the show, you’ll see the ways that they are related, but they’re not twins and they shouldn’t be.”
Dan Stevens, who serves as both star and executive producer, came aboard after all six episodes had already been written. LaValle said that foundation allowed Stevens to fully understand Pepper’s arc before ever stepping on set.
“There were ways that maybe on the page Pepper might have been less vulnerable, less conflicted, less complex, like, he might have been just more of a steamroller or a bully,” LaValle reflected, “but Dan could see even when he’s acting out, even when he’s fighting and yelling and all the rest, I think there’s a way for me to show you he’s also hurt or he’s wounded and he’s trying to reach out but he doesn’t know how.”
Cantwell added that the chemistry among the full cast, which includes Judith Light, CCH Pounder, Aasif Mandvi, John Benjamin Hickey, Stephen Root, and others, was something special. “Dan was really a shepherd of that vibe for everybody, him and Judith,” Cantwell said. “I know that they had their own conversations about the dynamics between their characters that we weren’t even privy to and the fact that they were able to do that freely, I think strengthened the piece.”
As for Kusama, Cantwell said she “shaped the tone of the first two episodes and set the tone as a cornerstone of the series from soup to nuts.”
Shooting on location at an abandoned prison on Staten Island, Kusama worked alongside director of photography Julie Kirkwood to establish a visual language rooted in the horror films of 1970s and 80s New York. “Those first two episodes, I feel like play like a movie that then you want to see the sequel to which is the rest of the series,” Cantwell said.
Get caught up on “The Terror: Devil in Silver” on AMC+ and Shudder now. Episode 105 premieres Thursday, June 4 on AMC+ and Shudder. The season finale, Episode 106, “Starry Night,” premieres Thursday, June 11 on AMC+ and Shudder.
Watch our conversation with Chris and Victor below.
MORE NEWS ON EURWEB.COM: CCH Pounder Talks Moral Reckoning at the Heart of ‘The Terror: Devil in Silver’ | EUR EXCLUSIVE
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