''Outcast'' is an American horror drama television series based on the comics of the same name by

Robert Kirkman Robert Kirkman (; born November 30, 1978)Löchel, Ingo"The Walking Dead: Die Comic-Serie – Robert Kirkman" Zauberspiegel. Retrieved February 17, 2013. is an American comic book writer, screenwriter and television producer. He is best known ...

and Paul Azaceta. A ten-episode first season debuted on

Cinemax Cinemax is an American pay television, cable, and satellite television network owned by the Home Box Office, Inc. subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. Developed as a companion "maxi-pay" service complementing the offerings shown on parent net ...

on June 3, 2016. It is a supernatural horror story that features people involved in

demonic possession Spirit possession is an unusual or altered state of consciousness and associated behaviors purportedly caused by the control of a human body by spirits, ghosts, demons, or gods. The concept of spirit possession exists in many cultures and reli ...

, and revolves around the life of Kyle Barnes, who is rejected by the people of Rome,

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

, for allegedly hurting his wife and daughter. On March 14, 2016, ahead of its premiere, ''Outcast'' was renewed for a second season. The second season premiered on

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

in the UK on April 3, 2017, and concluded on June 5, 2017. It began airing in the United States on July 20, 2018, and concluded on September 28, 2018. On October 2, 2018, it was announced that Cinemax had officially cancelled the series.

Cast and characters

Main cast

Patrick Fugit Patrick Raymond Fugit (; born October 27, 1982) is an American actor. He has appeared in the films ''Almost Famous'' (2000), ''White Oleander'' (2002), ''Spun'' (2003), ''Saved!'' (2004) and '' Wristcutters: A Love Story'' (2006), and portrayed ...

as Kyle Barnes, a young man struggling with the effects of demonic possession *

Philip Glenister Philip Haywood Glenister (born 10 February 1963) is an English actor. He is best known for his role as DCI Gene Hunt in the BBC series ''Life on Mars'' (2006–2007) and its sequel '' Ashes to Ashes'' (2008–2010). He also played DCI William ...

as John Anderson, the local Reverend and a close associate of Kyle *

Wrenn Schmidt Melinda Wrenn Schmidt (born February 18, 1983) is an American actress. She is best known for her starring role as NASA engineer, flight director and later Director of NASA Margo Madison in the Apple TV+ original science fiction space drama serie ...

as Megan Holter, Kyle's sister and wife of Mark *

Kate Lyn Sheil Kate Lyn Sheil (born June 13, 1985) is an American actress. She is primarily known for her roles in independent films ''You're Next'', ''V/H/S'', '' The Color Wheel'', '' The Sacrament'', and the award-winning Netflix series ''House of Cards''. ...

as Allison Barnes, Kyle's ex-wife and the mother of his daughter, Amber *

David Denman David Denman (born July 25, 1973) is an American actor. He made his film debut in '' The Replacements''. His other feature credits include ''Big Fish'', '' Fair Game'', ''The Nines'', '' Shutter'', ''Smart People'', '' Fanboys'', '' Let Go'', '' ...

as Mark Holter, a local police officer and husband of Megan (season 1; guest season 2) * Julia Crockett as Sarah Barnes, Kyle's estranged mother who also suffered from possession *

Brent Spiner Brent Jay Spiner (; born February 2, 1949) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as the android Data on the television series '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'', as well as four subsequent films. In 2019, he reprised the role for ...

as Sidney, a mysterious preacher *

Reg E. Cathey Reginald Eurias Cathey (August 18, 1958 – February 9, 2018) was an American character actor. He was best known for his roles as Norman Wilson in ''The Wire'', Martin Querns in '' Oz'', the game show announcer in ''Square One Television'', Dr. ...

as Byron Giles, Rome's Chief of Police *

Madeleine McGraw Madeleine Grace McGraw (born 22 December 2008) is an American actress. She is known for her role as Gwen in the 2021 horror film ''The Black Phone''. Career After voicing in several Pixar and Marvel Studios films, Madeleine McGraw was cast in ...

as Amber Barnes, Kyle and Allison's daughter (recurring season 1; main season 2)

Supporting cast

Gabriel Bateman Gabriel Michael Bateman (born September 10, 2004) is an American actor. He is best known for starring in numerous horror films, including as Robert in '' Annabelle'' (2014), Martin Wells in '' Lights Out'' (2016), Andy Barclay in '' Child's Play' ...

as Joshua Austin, a young boy who is also suffering from possession (guest season 1; recurring season 2) * C. J. Hoff as Aaron MacCready *

Melinda McGraw Melinda McGraw (born October 25, 1968) is an American actress. She has starred in movies such as ''The Dark Knight'' (2008), ''Wrongfully Accused'' (1998), and ''Skateland'' (2010), and is also known for her television performances on ''Mad Men'' ...

as Patricia MacCready * Pete Burris as Officer Lenny Ogden (season 1; guest season 2) *

Debra Christofferson Debra Christofferson (born January 9, 1963) is an American actress known for her roles in film and television. She is from Spearfish, South Dakota Spearfish ( Lakota: ''Hočhápȟe'') is a city in Lawrence County, South Dakota. The population ...

as Kat Ogden (season 1; guest season 2) *

Willie C. Carpenter Willie C. Carpenter is an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his recurring roles on ''Reasonable Doubts'' as Robert Maxwell, ''1600 Penn'' as General Maurer, and ''Devious Maids ''Devious Maids'' is an American television comedy-dra ...

as Norville Grant (season 1) *

Scott Porter Scott may refer to: Places Canada * Scott, Quebec, municipality in the Nouvelle-Beauce regional municipality in Quebec * Scott, Saskatchewan, a town in the Rural Municipality of Tramping Lake No. 380 * Rural Municipality of Scott No. 98, Saska ...

as Donnie Hamel (season 1) * Callie McClincy as Holly Holter, Megan and Mark's daughter *

Charmin Lee Charmin Lee is an American actress. She had a recurring role as Jeanette Wood, Maya's Mother, on the series '' Girlfriends''. Filmography Film Television External links * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Charmin Living people American tel ...

as Rose Giles *

Briana Venskus Briana Venskus-Vazquez (born August 19, 1987) is an American actress. Daughter of John Venskus and Josephine Vazquez. She is best known for her roles as Agent Susan Vasquez on The CW series ''Supergirl'' (2015–2017), Beatrice on the AMC series ' ...

as Officer Nuñez (season 2) * Chris Greene as Oscar (season 2) *

C. Thomas Howell Christopher Thomas Howell (born December 7, 1966) is an American actor. He has starred in the films '' Soul Man'', '' The Hitcher'', '' Grandview U.S.A.'', ''Red Dawn'', ''Secret Admirer'' and '' The Outsiders''. He has also appeared in '' Gett ...

as Simon Barnes; Kyle's estranged father (season 2) *

Hoon Lee Tong Hoon Lee (born July 18, 1973) is an American stage, film and television actor, known for playing Job in the Cinemax original series ''Banshee'' and the King in the Broadway revival of ''The King and I'', and voicing Hamato Yoshi/Splinter in ...

as Dr. Kenneth Park (season 2) *

M. C. Gainey Michael Connor Gainey (born January 18, 1948) is an American character actor best known for his appearances in ''Lost'', ''Con Air'', ''Sideways'', ''Tangled'', and ''Django Unchained''. Early life Gainey was born in Jackson, Mississippi. In the ...

as Bob Caldwell; local junkyard owner (season 2) *

Madelyn Deutch Madelyn Deutch (born March 23, 1991) is an American actress, musician and writer. She is known for writing, acting in a lead role, and composing the musical score for the feature film ''The Year of Spectacular Men''. Early life Deutch was born i ...

as Dakota (season 2)

Production

Fox International Studios and

developed the television series before the comic book was published.

picked up the United States rights for the project after the script was done. The series is produced by Fox International Studios for Cinemax in the United States and Fox international channels outside of the country. Robert Kirkman's

Skybound Entertainment Skybound Entertainment is an American multiplatform entertainment company founded by Robert Kirkman and David Alpert. History Skybound Entertainment is the company behind the long-running comic, '' The Walking Dead'', created by Robert Kirkman ...

is also a producer on the series. A 10-episode initial order was announced with lead cast

as Kyle Barnes and

as Reverend Anderson, along with

, while

Adam Wingard Adam Wingard ( ; born December 3, 1982) is an American filmmaker. He has served as a director, producer, screenwriter, editor, cinematographer, actor, and composer on numerous projects. Following an early career as a member of the mumblecore ...

was hired to direct the pilot produced by

Fox International Channels Fox Networks Group (FNG) is a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company that oversees international television assets that were acquired from 21st Century Fox. It produces and distributes more than 300 entertainment, film, sports and factual channe ...

. More cast was announced including

as Mark Holter,

as Patricia MacCready,

Grace Zabriskie Grace Zabriskie (' Caplinger; born May 17, 1941) is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Sarah Palmer in ''Twin Peaks'' (1990–1991; 2017) and its film prequel '' Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me'' (1992), Lois Henrickson in '' ...

as Mildred,

Catherine Dent Catherine Grace Dent (born April 14, 1965) is an American actress. She is best known for the role of Danielle "Danny" Sofer in the FX series ''The Shield'', Janet Anderson in '' Outcast'' (2016–2018), and General Hale in ''Agents of S.H.I. ...

as Janet Anderson,

Lee Tergesen Lee Allen Tergesen (; born July 8, 1965) is an American actor. He is known for his roles in '' Weird Science'', as Tobias Beecher in HBO's prison drama '' Oz'', and as Evan Wright in ''Generation Kill,'' as well as guest starring in many other ...

as Blake Morrow, and

. On August 10, 2015, production began on the first season in

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

. The cities of Chester and York, South Carolina were transformed into the series' fictitious town of Rome,

Episodes

Season 1 (2016)

Season 2 (2017)

Broadcast

Internationally, the series is broadcast by

starting in June 2016. On May 20, 2016, in Europe,

Fox Networks Group Fox Networks Group (FNG) is a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company that oversees international television assets that were acquired from 21st Century Fox. It produces and distributes more than 300 entertainment, film, sports and factual chan ...

streamed the first episode over

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

Live. TV5 air the episodes on Philippine free-to-air television within 24 hours of their American premiere starting June 4, 2016.

Reception

Critical response

The first season received mostly positive reviews from critics. The

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

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 ...

gave the series an approval rating of 79%, based on 38 reviews, with an average rating of 8.1/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "A cut above average summer fare, Outcast provides the genuine chills one should – but often can't – expect from television horror."

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 ...

, which uses a weighted average, assigned the series a score of 70 out of 100, based on 28 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Jasef Wisener of TVOvermind, gave the pilot episode a 4.8/5, praising the premiere for not "hold ngback with the action or the frights," calling it "fun as hell" and a "series for anyone that likes horror." James Charisma of ''

Playboy ''Playboy'' is an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. K ...

'' noted that unlike the horror in series creator Robert Kirkman's other series, '' The Walking Dead'', in ''Outcast'', "the threat is unseen, lurking under the surface ... characters exist in the present but live in the past, haunted by terrors and ordeals from days gone by."

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * {{Image Comics 2010s American drama television series 2010s American horror television series 2016 American television series debuts 2018 American television series endings Cinemax original programming English-language television shows Television shows based on comics Television series based on Image Comics Television shows set in West Virginia