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Today at San Diego Comic-Con, James Wan, an undisputed master of horror, made our skin crawl with an exclusive first look at his forthcoming horror series, Teacup. Based on the 1988 novel Stinger by Robert McCammon, the show will officially debut on Peacock with its first two episodes dropping on October 10.

Wan, who serves as executive producer under his Atomic Monster banner, was on hand to discuss the project alongside showrunner Ian McCulloch, and three cast members: Yvonne Strahovski (Maggie Chenoweth), Scott Speedman (James Chenoweth), and Chaske Spencer (Ruben Shanley).

“After reading Robert McCammon’s book Stinger, the entire team at Atomic Monster felt a spark,” Wan said in a statement. “The story had all the ingredients for a captivating series and Ian McCulloch had a vision to bring it to life in a fresh way that was both startling and darkly atmospheric, but filled with a rich sense of humanity — often lacking in edgy narratives. Add in our incredibly talented cast led by Yvonne Strahovski, Scott Speedman and Chaske Spencer and fans are in for a true edge-of-your-seat experience.” 

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He continued: “Teacup defies easy labels. It’s a genre-bending blend of horror, mystery, and drama, with layers that unfold like a captivating puzzle. It goes beyond chills and thrills and holds up a mirror to humanity, exploring the darkness that resides within us all. We hope you enjoy this wild ride as much as we’ve loved creating it!”

What Is James Wan’s Teacup About?

The show “follows a disparate group of people in rural Georgia who must come together in the face of a mysterious threat in order to survive.” The original book, on the other hand, takes place over the course of a single day in the fictional town of Inferno, Texas, which finds itself rocked by the arrival of an extra-terrestrial hunter known only as “Stinger.”

In a statement of his own, McCulloch described the source material as “a no-holds-barred, gargantuan spectacle of a novel along the lines of The Stand, Independence Day, and Mars Attacks.” When he set out to bring the literary edifice to the small screen, however, he decided to strip away chunks of the novel — from the “large ensemble” to “giant set pieces” to the “crowded town setting.”

“The adaptation would be like an acoustic guitar version of, say, a Radiohead song,” the showrunner explained. “It won’t have the production value, electronic instruments, loops, or synthesized bells and whistles, but it will still have the melody, the structure, the lyrics, the real magic at the core, all the stuff that makes a great song a great song.”

McCulloch concluded: “Point being, the series is now very much its own thing: a puzzle-box mystery, an edge-of-your-seat thriller, a can’t-but-must look horror story, a family drama, a science fiction epic — of the keyhole variety, of course. But as singular, strange, and surprising as I hope Teacup is, all you need to do is peel away the layers, characters, situations, and mythology and look behind the thrills, chills, hairpin turns and make-you gasp reveals. Do all that and you’ll see, at its heart, Teacup is still very much standing on the shoulders of Stinger. Just as it should.

As for why the show is called Teacup? The answer to that question, McCulloch teased, is a big fat spoiler.

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Kathy Baker (Edward Scissorhands), Boris McGiver (Servant), Caleb Dolden (Follow Me), Emilie Bierre (Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent), and Luciano Leroux (Yellowjackets) round out the principal cast.

Wan, McCulloch, and McCammon serve as executive producers along with Michael Clear (Archive 81, Swamp Thing), Rob Hackett (Archive 81, I Know What You Did Last Summer), Francisca X. Hu, and Kevin Tancharoen.

Get Your First Look at James Wan’s Peacock Horror Series Teacup