''Them'' is an American horror

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 ...

series, created by

Little Marvin Little is a synonym for small size and may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Little'' (album), 1990 debut album of Vic Chesnutt * ''Little'' (film), 2019 American comedy film *The Littles, a series of children's novels by American author John P ...

and executive produced by

Lena Waithe Lena Waithe (born May 17, 1984) is an American actress, producer, and screenwriter. She is the creator of the Showtime drama series ''The Chi'' (2018–present) and the BET comedy series ''Boomerang'' (2019–20) and '' Twenties'' (2020–prese ...

. The series stars

Deborah Ayorinde Deborah Olayinka Ayorinde (born 13 August 1987) is a British-Nigerian actress raised in the United States. She is known for her role in the Amazon Prime horror series '' Them'' (2021). Early life and education Ayorinde was born in London, Eng ...

Ashley Thomas Ashley Thomas is a fictional character from the British soap opera ''Emmerdale'', played by John Middleton. He made his first screen appearance during the episode broadcast on 5 December 1996. It was announced on 22 October 2015 that Middlet ...

Alison Pill Alison Pill (born November 27, 1985) is a Canadian actress. A former child actress, Pill began her career at age 12, appearing in numerous films and television series. She transitioned to adult roles and her breakthrough came with the television ...

, and Ryan Kwanten and premiered on

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, also known simply as Prime Video, is an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, streaming and Renting, rental service of Amazon (c ...

on April 9, 2021, to mixed reviews. A second season, titled ''Them: The Scare'', is in development, with Ayorinde returning from the first season.

Premise

Set in 1953, ''Them'' follows a black family who, during the

Second Great Migration In the context of the 20th-century history of the United States, the Second Great Migration was the migration of more than 5 million African Americans from the South to the Northeast, Midwest and West. It began in 1940, through World War II, and ...

, moves from

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

to an all-white neighborhood in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. The family's idyllic home slowly transforms into an epicenter of evil forces, next-door and otherworldly, that threaten to haunt, ravage and destroy them.

Cast and characters

Main

as Livia "Lucky" Emory *

as Henry Emory *

as Elizabeth "Betty" Wendell *

Shahadi Wright Joseph Shahadi Wright Joseph (born April 29, 2005) is an American actress, singer, and dancer. She is best known for her starring role in Jordan Peele's horror film '' Us'' (2019) and as the voice for Young Nala in Jon Favreau's musical film ''The Lion ...

as Ruby Lee Emory * Melody Hurd as Gracie Emory * Ryan Kwanten as George Bell

Guest

Dale Dickey Diana Dale Dickey (born September 29, 1961) is an American character actress who has worked in theater, film, and television. She began her career on stage, performing in the 1989 Broadway version of ''The Merchant of Venice'', before appearing ...

as The Woman *

Liam McIntyre Liam James McIntyre (born 8 February 1982) is an Australian actor, best known for playing the lead role on the Starz television series '' Spartacus: Vengeance'' and '' War of the Damned'' and as Mark Mardon / Weather Wizard on ''The Flash''. He ...

as Clarke Wendell *

Lindsey Kraft Lindsey Brooke Kraft (born January 23, 1983) is an American actress, model and writer. She is best known for playing Marguerite Macaw on '' Getting On'', Leslie Curry on ''Living Biblically'', and Allison on ''Grace and Frankie''. Kraft has als ...

as Midge Pruitt *

Pat Healy Patrick Healy, Pat Healy, Patrick Healey or Pat Healey may refer to: * Felix Healy (Patrick Joseph Healy, born 1955), former Northern Irish football player and manager * Pat Healy (actor) (born 1971), American actor, writer, and director * Pat H ...

as Marty Dixon * Brooke Smith as Helen Koistra *

Malcolm Mays Malcolm Michael Mays (born February 14, 1990) is an American actor, musician, and filmmaker. At the age of seventeen, Mays co-directed and produced his own short film, aided by producer Todd Black, Gary Martin of Sony Pictures and others. Mays is ...

as Calvin * John Patrick Jordan as Earl * Dirk Rogers as Miss Vera *

Abbie Cobb Abbie Cobb is an American actress and author. She is known for her recurring roles as Emily Bradford on '' 90210'' and as Kimantha on ''Suburgatory''. Life and career Abbie Cobb was born in Papillion, Nebraska. She became interested in acting af ...

as Nat Dixon * Max Barsness as Dale Pruitt *

Kim Shaw Kim Shaw (born May 20, 1984) is a Canadian-born American actress. Early life and education Shaw grew up in Miami and Longwood, Florida. After graduating from Lake Brantley High School, Shaw moved to New York City to attend the American Academy ...

as Carol Lynn Denton *

Bailey Noble Bailey Ann Noble (born October 13, 1990) is an American actress. She played Adilyn Bellefleur, the half- fairy daughter of sheriff Andy Bellefleur, on HBO's vampire drama series ''True Blood'' (2013–2014), and Anna Assaoui in the 2015 remake o ...

as Marlene * Derek Phillips as Sergeant Bull Wheatley * P.J. Byrne as Stuart Berks * Sophie Guest as Doris *

Tim Russ Timothy Darrell Russ (born June 22, 1956) is an American actor, director, screenwriter, and musician. He is best known for his roles as Lieutenant Commander Tuvok on '' Star Trek: Voyager'', Robert Johnson in ''Crossroads'' (1986), Casey in '' E ...

as The Custodian *

Ryan Kennedy Ryan Kennedy (born December 6, 1982) is a Canadian actor and model. He is best known for his role "Travis Hollier" in the 2006 TV series '' Whistler'' and "Jake Harrow" in The CW 2010 TV series ''Hellcats''. Kennedy has also played Apollo 11 a ...

as Gary *

Christopher Heyerdahl Christopher Heyerdahl (born September 18, 1963) is a Canadian actor who portrayed Alastair in '' Supernatural,'' the Wraith Todd in ''Stargate Atlantis'', Sam in ''Van Helsing,'' "Swede" in ''Hell on Wheels,'' and Marcus in '' The Twilight Saga ...

as The Black Hat Man * Jeremiah Birkett as Da Tap Dance Man *

Paula Jai Parker Paula Jai Parker is an American actress. She is best known for her supporting roles in the films ''Friday'' (1995), '' Sprung'' (1997), '' Why Do Fools Fall in Love'' (1998), ''Phone Booth'' (2002), '' Hustle & Flow'' (2005), and '' Idlewild'' (20 ...

as Hazel Emory * Sheria Irving as Cynthia * J. Mallory McCree as Junius Emory *

Anika Noni Rose Anika Noni Rose (born September 6, 1972) is an American actress and singer. She is best known for voicing Tiana, Disney's first African-American princess, as seen in ''The Princess and the Frog'' (2009). She was named a Disney Legend in 2011. S ...

as Ella Mae * Roland Johnson as Moe Irvin *

Lisa Banes Lisa Lou Banes (July 9, 1955 – June 14, 2021) was an American actress known for more than 80 film and television roles, as well as stage appearances on Broadway and elsewhere. Banes won a 1981 Theatre World Award for her performance as Alison ...

as Esther Haber (Banes' final television role before her death on June 14, 2021) *

Michael Harney Michael John Harney is an American actor of film, television, and theater. He is best known for starring on the Netflix original series ''Orange Is the New Black'' as Corrections Officer Sam Healy. In 2019, he had a recurring role in the Apple TV ...

as Otto Haber *

Peter Mackenzie Peter Mackenzie (born January 19, 1961) is an American actor. Career He co-starred in films ''Good Morning, Vietnam'' (1987), ''Torch Song Trilogy'' (1988), ''Lorenzo's Oil'' (1992) and '' Trumbo'' (2015). He is also known for his television ro ...

as Mr. Stoal * Shaw Jones as City Planner * Van Epperson as Banker *

Barry Livingston Barry Gordon Livingston (born December 17, 1953) is an American television and film actor, known for his role as Ernie Douglas on the television series ''My Three Sons'' (1963–72). He is the younger brother of actor/director Stanley Livingst ...

as Real Estate Commissioner * David Bowe as Mitch * Christopher Murray as Murray * Daniel Robbins as Man In Car * Scott Alan Smith as Fuller *

Latarsha Rose Latarsha Rose is an American film and television actress, best known for her role as Portia in the 2012 film ''The Hunger Games''. Background Rose is from Brooklyn, New York and attended Georgetown University. From the University, she performed ...

as Arnette Beaumont * Samantha Sherman as Marjorie Wallinger * Kate McNeil as Dr. Frances Moynihan *

Dominic Burgess Dominic Burgess (born 29 July 1982) is an English actor. He is known for his appearances in several television adverts and series such as '' Raising Hope'', ''Doctor Who'', ''It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia'', and '' Feud: Bette and Joan''. E ...

as Roger * Nona Parker Johnson * Cranston Johnson *

Melinda Page Hamilton Melinda Page Hamilton (born August 22, 1974) is an American actress, best known for her role as Odessa Burakov in the Lifetime comedy-drama series ''Devious Maids'', and for her leading role in the independent film '' Sleeping Dogs Lie'' (2006) ...

as Elder Sara * Gene Silvers as Elder Luther *

J. Paul Boehmer J. Paul Boehmer (born October 30, 1965) is an American actor and voice artist, best known for his television work in the ''Star Trek'' universe. In feature films, Boehmer has appeared in ''Skyline'' and George Clooney's ''The Good German''. J. ...

as Elder James * Summera Howell as Elder Cora * Kai Richard as Miles

Episodes

Season 1: ''Covenant'' (2021)

Production

Development

On July 28, 2018,

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...

gave the project a two-season order. The series was created by Little Marvin, who also wrote the script for the first season and was set to executive produce the show alongside

under their overall deals with

Amazon Studios Amazon Studios is an American television and film producer and distributor that is a subsidiary of Amazon. It specializes in developing television series and distributing and producing films. It was started in late 2010. Content is distributed th ...

Roy Lee Roy Lee (born March 23, 1969) is an American film producer. Lee's production company, Vertigo Entertainment, has a first-look deal with Warner Bros. Early life Lee was born in 1969 at Wyckoff Heights Hospital, in Brooklyn, New York, to Korean p ...

, Miri Yoon, and Michael Connolly of

Vertigo Entertainment Vertigo Entertainment is an American film and television production company based in Los Angeles, founded in 2001 by Roy Lee and Doug Davison. History In 2001, after leaving BenderSpink, Roy Lee started Vertigo Entertainment with partner Doug ...

were also announced as executive producers, with Vertigo co-producing the series under the company's deal with

Sony Pictures Television Sony Pictures Television Inc. (abbreviated as SPT) is an American television production and distribution studio. Based at the Sony Pictures Studios complex in Culver City, it is a division of Sony Entertainment's unit Sony Pictures Entertainm ...

. The first season is subtitled ''Them: Covenant'', and the series will follow a similar limited semi-anthological structure to ''

American Horror Story ''American Horror Story'' is an American anthology horror television series created by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk for the cable network FX. The first installment in the '' American Story'' media franchise, each season is conceived as a ...

'', with each season following a different story with different characters. Alongside the series order announcement, Waithe said: On April 1, 2019, David Matthews joined the series as

showrunner A showrunner (or colloquially a helmer) is the top-level executive producer of a television series production who has creative and management authority through combining the responsibilities of employer and, in comedy or dramas, typically also th ...

under his newly announced overall deal at Sony Pictures Television. On November 19, 2019, it was announced that

Larysa Kondracki Larysa Kondracki is a Canadian producer, director and screenwriter. Her debut feature film, ''The Whistleblower'', was released in 2011 and received nominations for six Genies at the 32nd Genie Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. ...

was attached to executive produce the series as well as direct multiple episodes including the

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

under her overall deal at Amazon Studios.

Casting

On July 27, 2019,

and

were cast in the lead roles.

, Ryan Kwanten, Melody Hurd,

Javier Botet Javier Botet López (born 30 July 1977) is a Spanish actor. Often cast in creature actor, creature roles, he has portrayed Tristana Medeiros in the REC (franchise), ''REC'' franchise (2007–2012), the title character in ''Mama (2013 film), Mam ...

, and Percy Hynes White were added to the main cast on October 3, 2019, alongside Derek Phillips who was cast in a recurring capacity. On December 2, 2019, Brooke Smith,

P.J. Byrne,

, Jeremiah Birkett, and Sophie Guest joined the recurring cast.

Filming

The series began production on July 8, 2019, with filming taking place between

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

and

. The set for the neighborhood was built on a lot in

Pomona, California Pomona is a city in Los Angeles County, California. Pomona is located in the Pomona Valley, between the Inland Empire and the San Gabriel Valley. At the 2020 census, the city's population was 151,713. The main campus of California State Polyte ...

Release

The series had its world premiere on March 18, 2021, at the

SXSW Film Festival South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Te ...

as part of the Episodic Premieres section. The series premiered on

on April 9, 2021.

Reception

On 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 ...

, the series has a 59% fresh rating from 49 critic reviews with an average score of 6.5/10. The site's critical consensus reads "Deborah Ayorinde and Ashley Thomas' gripping performances help ''Them'' sustain a sufficient sense of terror, but its blunt and bloody approach undermines any social commentary in favor of more superficial horrors." On

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 ...

, the series received a mixed rating of 57/100 based on 20 critic reviews. ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

''s

Lucy Mangan Lucy Katherine Mangan''England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1916–2007'' (born 1974) is a British journalist and author. She is a columnist, features writer and TV critic for ''The Guardian''. A major part of her writing is related t ...

gave the show 4/5 stars, writing that "What marks out this portrayal of 50s prejudice (not unworked ground) is that, thanks to magnificent performances from Thomas and Ayorinde, you get a great sense of the cost to victims: the sheer amount of mental energy it takes to navigate a relentlessly hostile world, the consequent exhaustion, the constant abrading of the soul." In a mostly negative review, Lovia Gyarkye of ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' said that "''Them'' suffers from an overcrowded narrative and too many themes, making for an uneven, dizzying, at times overly dense viewing experience. From the violent neighbors and the history of Black homeownership to the traumas that plague each member of the Emory family, the show takes on more than it can responsibly unpack." ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

''s chief TV critic Daniel D'Addario wrote that "In visual style and in the performances of the actors playing the Emorys, it captures a recognizable 1950s of the mind. A striking early sequence sees the family in integrated settings, being assisted by white employees at an appliance store and a soda fountain. The point is made, elegantly, that the Emorys have left behind the explicit bigotry of the American South for a place where the horrors are more insidious", but described the series as "surprisingly unimaginative". Some critics took issue with scenes of graphic racial violence, particularly a scene in which a Black couple is blinded with hot pokers and burned alive, calling ''Them'' "black trauma porn".

Awards and nominations

Notes

References

External links

* * {{Amazon Video original series 2020s American anthology television series 2020s American drama television series 2020s American horror television series 2021 American television series debuts American horror fiction television series English-language television shows Amazon Prime Video original programming Racism in television Television series by Amazon Studios Television series by Sony Pictures Television Television series by Vertigo Entertainment Television series set in 1953 Television shows filmed in Atlanta Television shows filmed in Los Angeles Television shows set in Los Angeles Television series set in the 1950s