We don’t want to over-explain H.P. Lovecraft’s monster mythology, in case that would spoil too much of HBO’s upcoming Lovecraft Country, but suffice it to say, one look at the tentacled beast in the show’s new full trailer, released ahead of the series’s virtual Comic-Con panel on Saturday, will tell you our protagonists are up against something cosmically scary.
Based on the titular book by Matt Ruff, Jonathan Majors starts in Lovecraft Country as Atticus Black, a horror and sci-fi fan who sets off across Jim Crow America with his uncle George, played by Courtney B. Vance, and childhood friend Leti, portrayed by Jurnee Smollett-Bell, to find his father, currently in the company of some exceedingly weird strangers. Any genre story worth its salt will tell you nothing good will come from trading your humanity for ultimate power. But if that didn’t convince you, maybe those giant grotesque batwings will. Lovecraft Country is set to premiere on HBO next month on August 16.