''Monsterland'' is an American
drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...
anthology
In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors.
In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically categ ...
horror streaming television
Streaming television is the digital distribution of television content, such as TV shows, as streaming media delivered over the Internet. Streaming television stands in contrast to dedicated terrestrial television delivered by over-the-air aer ...
series created by Mary Laws, based upon the short story collection ''North American Lake Monsters: Stories'' by
Nathan Ballingrud. It consists of eight episodes and premiered on October 2, 2020, on
Hulu
Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television serie ...
.
Episodes
Production
Development
In May 2019, it was announced
Hulu
Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television serie ...
had given the series an eight-episode order, with Mary Laws creating the series and serving as an executive producer based upon the short story ''North American Lake Monsters: Stories'' by Nathan Ballingrud, with
Babak Anvari
Babak Anvari ( fa, بابک انوری) is a Iranians in the United Kingdom, British-Iranian filmmaker. He is best known for directing horror films such as ''Under the Shadow'' (2016) and ''Wounds (film), Wounds'' (2019).
Filmography
Director ...
and Lucan Toh serving as executive producers with Anvari set to direct an episode of the series, and
Annapurna Television
Annapurna Pictures is an independent American media company founded by Megan Ellison in 2011, that specializes in film production, live theatre production, television through its Annapurna Television division, and video game publishing through i ...
attached to produce. The series was released on October 2, 2020.
Casting
In November 2019, it was announced
Kaitlyn Dever
Kaitlyn Rochelle Dever (; born December 21, 1996) is an American actress. She gained recognition for her roles in the FX crime drama television series '' Justified'' (2011–2015), the ABC/Fox sitcom '' Last Man Standing'' (2011–2021), the Net ...
and
Jonathan Tucker
Jonathan Moss Tucker (born May 31, 1982) is an American actor. He is known for his roles in the films ''The Virgin Suicides'' (1999), '' The Texas Chainsaw Massacre'' (2003), ''Hostage'' (2005), '' In the Valley of Elah'' (2007), '' The Ruins'' ( ...
had joined the cast of the series, appearing in the first episode. In February 2020,
Mike Colter
Mike Randal Colter (born August 26, 1976) is an American actor best known for his role as Luke Cage in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, appearing in the streaming television series ''Luke Cage'' (2016–2018), '' The Defenders'' (2017), and ''Jess ...
joined the cast of the series. In July 2020, it was announced
Kelly Marie Tran
Kelly Marie Tran (born Loan Tran, January 17, 1989) is an American actress. She began acting in 2011, with most of her roles being in short film and television. She came to global prominence for her role as Rose Tico in the ''Star Wars'' seque ...
and
Taylor Schilling
Taylor Jane Schilling (born July 27, 1984) is an American actress. She is known for her role as Piper Chapman on the Netflix original comedy-drama series ''Orange Is the New Black'' (2013–2019), for which she received a nomination for the Pri ...
had joined the cast of the series. In August 2020, it was announced
Nicole Beharie
Nicole Beharie is an American actress. She is best known for her starring roles in films such as the drama ''American Violet'' (2008), the psychological drama ''Shame (2011 film), Shame'' (2011), the biographical sports drama ''42 (film), 42'' ...
,
Adepero Oduye
Adepero Oduye ( ) (born January 11, 1978) is an American actress, director, singer, and writer. She is known for '' Pariah'' (2011), '' 12 Years a Slave'' (2013), ''The Big Short'' (2015), and ''Widows'' (2018).
Life and career
Adepero Oduye w ...
,
Roberta Colindrez
Roberta Colindrez is a Mexican-American actor and writer known for originating the role of Joan in the musical ''Fun Home.'' Colindrez is also known for roles in the TV shows ''I Love Dick,'' '' Vida, and'' Amazon Prime's ''A League of Their Own' ...
,
Charlie Tahan
Charles Tahan (born June 11, 1998) is an American actor. His notable roles include Wyatt Langmore in the Netflix original crime drama ''Ozark'' (2017–2022), the voice of Victor Frankenstein in the Disney 3D stop-motion-animated fantasy horror ...
and
Hamish Linklater
Hamish Linklater (born July 7, 1976) is an American actor and playwright. He is known for playing Matthew Kimble in '' The New Adventures of Old Christine'', Andrew Keanelly in ''The Crazy Ones'', and Clark Debussy in ''Legion''. He is the son of ...
had joined the cast of the series.
Filming
The series was filmed in
Kingston, New York
Kingston is a Administrative divisions of New York#City, city in and the county seat of Ulster County, New York, United States. It is north of New York City and south of Albany, New York, Albany. The city's metropolitan area is grouped with t ...
, in November 2019.
Reception
For the series, review aggregator
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
reported an approval rating of 82% based on 28 reviews, with an average rating of 6.71/10. The website's critics' consensus reads, "Though it struggles to find a strong through line, ''Monsterland'' cross-country scares are a perfect showcase for its talented cast and crew."
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
gave the series a weighted average score of 63 out of 100 based on five reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
References
External links
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{{Hulu
2020 American television series debuts
2020 American television series endings
2020s American anthology television series
2020s American drama television series
2020s American horror television series
Horror anthology web series
Hulu original programming
Television shows based on American novels
Television shows filmed in New York (state)