We finally have the tiniest taste of upcoming Peacock original series Teacup, courtesy of San Diego ComicCon. At a panel today, it was revealed that Teacup will premiere on October 10, 2024, alongside a short teaser trailer and some first-look photos of the series.
The teaser doesn't give us much to go on - yup, that's a teacup - but the vibes are certainly unsettling. There's a bit more to be mined from the first look images, which show the different cast members in various states of being *concerned about weird happenings* and yes, there's that teacup again.
If you're not quite sure what Teacup is, don't worry - thus far, all the information about the series has been quite vague on purpose...if you haven't read the book. Teacup is actually an adaptation of Robert McCammon's novel Stinger, and tells the story of a group of individuals in rural Georgia who encounter a strange and mysterious threat, and who must band together to survive. This is slightly different from the novel, which takes place in Texas, but the novel's dust jacket is a bit more up-front about what the threat is exactly if you're looking for more clues.
Teacup stars Yvonne Strahovski, Scott Speedman, Chaske Spencer, Kathy Baker, Boris McGiver, Caleb Dolden, Emilie Bierre, and Luciano Leroux. Ian McCulloch is in the showrunner seat, while E.L. Katz (The Haunting of Bly Manor) will serve as executive producer and director. They are joined by executive producers James Wan (The Conjuring Universe, M3GAN), Michael Clear (Swamp Thing) and Rob Hackett (I Know What You Did Last Summer) for Atomic Monster, Francisca X. Hu, Kevin Tancharoen, as well as Stinger author McCammon himself.
In a press release shared with IGN, McCulloch comments that Stinger "wouldn't leave me alone" when he read it. Though he admits it's a bit different from the kinds of stories he typically works with, McCulloch wanted to take what he loved about Stinger and adapt it into the "large stories told through small lenses" take he likes telling.
"What if I adapted Stinger in a way that honors the book and stays true to the kinds of stories I like to tell?" he said. "Keep the conceit. Keep Stinger’s most effective elements. Take away the large ensemble. Take away the giant set pieces. Even take away the book’s crowded town setting. The adaptation would be like an acoustic guitar version of, say, a Radiohead song. 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."
Teacup is coming to Peacock with eight thirty-minute episodes, the first two of which will premiere on October 10, 2024, followed by two episodes per week after.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
