First Trailer for HBO’s Lovecraft Country Blends Jim Crow Horrors with Supernatural Monsters

HBO’s hotly anticipated new drama series Lovecraft Country has finally unveiled its first teaser trailer, after days of build-up, revealing a world that blends the horrors of both Jim Crow America and the supernatural terrors of the author its name invokes. Lovecraft Country is an adaptation of the 2016 novel by the same name by Matt Ruff, and debuts on HBO this August. It’s been the source of much curiosity thanks to the talent behind it, from producers Jordan Peele and J.J. Abrams to executive producer and showrunner Misha Green, who previously brought us Underground. Also writing on the series is former Paste TV editor Shannon Houston.

Lovecraft Country is set in 1950s America, as a man embarks on a perilous roadtrip across a dangerous landscape to locate his missing father. As HBO puts it:

The series follows Atticus Freeman (Jonathan Majors) as he joins up with his friend Letitia (Jurnee Smollett-Bell) and his Uncle George (Courtney B. Vance) to embark on a road trip across 1950s Jim Crow America in search of his missing father (Michael Kenneth Williams). This begins a struggle to survive and overcome both the racist terrors of white America and the terrifying monsters that could be ripped from a Lovecraft paperback.

How the literal monsters fit into this story isn’t quite clear; as is the true meaning of the phrase “Lovecraft Country,” but we are excited to find out. You’ll catch a glimpse of those beasties in the footage below, so go ahead and check out the first trailer for Lovecraft Country right now. There doesn’t seem to be an exact premiere date yet, but August isn’t too far away.