''The Terror'' is an American supernatural horror drama anthology television series developed for

AMC AMC may refer to: Film and television * AMC Theatres, an American movie theater chain * AMC Networks, an American entertainment company ** AMC (TV channel) ** AMC+, streaming service ** AMC Networks International, an entertainment company *** ...

. The series is named after

Dan Simmons Dan Simmons (born April 4, 1948) is an American science fiction and horror writer. He is the author of the Hyperion Cantos and the Ilium/Olympos cycles, among other works which span the science fiction, horror, and fantasy genres, sometimes wi ...

's 2007 novel, which serves as the basis for the first season. It premiered on March 25, 2018, with a second season, subtitled ''Infamy'', premiering on August 12, 2019. The first season was developed by

David Kajganich David Kajganich (born November 15, 1969) is an American screenwriter and producer. He has written several works in the horror genre, including the film ''Blood Creek'' (2009), and the network series ''The Terror'' (2018). He has also collaborated ...

and is a fictionalized account of Captain Sir John Franklin's lost expedition to the Arctic in 1845–1848. Kajganich and

Soo Hugh Soo Hugh ( ko, 허수진) is an American television writer, producer, and showrunner. She served as co-showrunner for the first season of AMC’s ''The Terror'' and is currently showrunner for Apple TV+'s ''Pachinko'', an adaptation of Min Jin ...

serve as co-showrunners. Featured in the cast are

Jared Harris Jared Francis Harris (born 24 August 1961) is a British actor. His roles include Lane Pryce in the AMC television drama series ''Mad Men'', for which he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Serie ...

as Captain Francis Crozier,

Tobias Menzies Tobias Simpson Menzies (born 7 March 1974) is an English stage, television and film actor. He is known for playing Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh in the third and fourth seasons of Netflix's series ''The Crown'', for which he won the Primetime ...

as Commander James Fitzjames,

Paul Ready Paul John Ready (born 1977) is a British actor. In 2013–2014, he played Lee in ''Utopia''. In 2016, he played Kevin in ''Motherland''. In 2018, he played the role of Rob MacDonald in the BBC television series '' Bodyguard'', and Harry Goodsi ...

as Dr. Harry Goodsir, and

Ciarán Hinds Ciarán Hinds (; born 9 February 1953) is an Irish actor. Born in Belfast, Hinds is known for a range of screen and stage roles. He has starred in feature films including '' The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover'' (1989), ''Persuasion'' (19 ...

as Franklin. The second season was co-created by

Alexander Woo Alexander Woo is an American writer and producer for television. Biography Screenwriting Alexander Woo is best known for writing several episodes of the HBO drama series ''True Blood''. In an interview, Woo describes the "True Blood" writing ro ...

and

Max Borenstein Max Borenstein (born June 20, 1981) is an American screenwriter. He is best known for his work on the ''MonsterVerse'' film series featuring classic Kaiju of Toho's Godzilla mythos, including writing ''Godzilla'' (2014) and '' Kong: Skull Isl ...

and is mostly set in an American-run Japanese internment camp during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. It stars

Derek Mio Derek Mio (born 1982) is an American film and television actor who attended USC School of Cinematic Arts. He is a fourth generation Japanese American. Personal life Mio was born in Huntington Beach, California and attended Huntington Beach High ...

Kiki Sukezane is a Japanese actress from Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, working mostly in American productions. Biography Kiki Sukezane was born to parents both of samurai descent; some ancestors were involved in the 1860 Sakuradamon Incident on the side of the ...

Cristina Rodlo Cristina Rodlo (born May 21, 1990) is a Mexican actress who appeared as Isabel Urrutia Zavaleta in 93 episodes of '' Vuelve Temprano'' (2016 – 2017) and 23 episodes of '' El Vato'' (2017). She has starred in feature films as Fabiana in '' Per ...

Shingo Usami is a Japanese professional baseball catcher for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball. His wife is Reni Takagi, a member of Japanese idol group Momoiro Clover Z . Professional career On November 16, 2018, h ...

Naoko Mori (born 29 November 1971) is a Japanese actress based in the United Kingdom. She is known for her roles as Toshiko Sato in ''Doctor Who'' and ''Torchwood'', Yasuko Namba in ''Everest'', Sarah in ''Absolutely Fabulous'' and Nicola in '' Spice Wor ...

Miki Ishikawa Miki Michelle Ishikawa (born July 29, 1991) is an American actress and singer. She is known for her role as Amy Yoshida on the second season of ''The Terror'', and for being part of the music group T-Squad. Career Miki Ishikawa started her caree ...

, and

George Takei George Takei (; ja, ジョージ・タケイ; born Hosato Takei (武井穂郷), April 20, 1937) is an American actor, author and activist known for his role as Hikaru Sulu, helmsman of the fictional starship USS ''Enterprise'' in the televi ...

Premise

''The Terror''

The first season begins with the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

's polar explorer ships and having recently left

Beechey Island Beechey Island ( iu, Iluvialuit, script=Latn) is an island located in the Arctic Archipelago of Nunavut, Canada, in Wellington Channel. It is separated from the southwest corner of Devon Island by Barrow Strait. Other features include Wellington C ...

in the

Canadian Arctic Archipelago The Arctic Archipelago, also known as the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, is an archipelago lying to the north of the Canadian continental mainland, excluding Greenland (an autonomous territory of Denmark). Situated in the northern extremity of No ...

, heading south toward

King William Island King William Island (french: Île du Roi-Guillaume; previously: King William Land; iu, Qikiqtaq, script=Latn) is an island in the Kitikmeot Region of Nunavut, which is part of the Arctic Archipelago. In area it is between and making it the ...

into uncharted territory, seeking to find and confirm the existence and navigability of the fabled

Northwest Passage The Northwest Passage (NWP) is the sea route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through the Arctic Ocean, along the northern coast of North America via waterways through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. The eastern route along the Arct ...

. The ships are soon frozen and trapped in the ice, and those aboard must survive the harsh weather conditions and each other, while being stalked by an elusive menace.

''The Terror: Infamy''

The second season takes place on the west coast of the United States during

and centers on the Japanese folklore of

bakemono and are a class of ''yōkai'', preternatural creatures in Japanese folklore. Literally, the terms mean ''a thing that changes'', referring to a state of transformation or shapeshifting. These words are often translated as " ghost", but prima ...

, "an uncanny specter that menaces a Japanese American community from its home in Southern California to the internment camps to the war in the Pacific".

Cast and characters

Season 1

Main

as Captain

Francis Crozier Francis Rawdon Moira Crozier (17 October 1796 – disappeared 26 April 1848) was an Irish officer of the Royal Navy and polar explorer who participated in six expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctic. In May 1845, he was second-in-comman ...

, Commanding Officer, HMS ''Terror'', and expedition second-in-command *

as Commander

James Fitzjames James Fitzjames (27 July 1813 – disappeared 26 April 1848) was a British Royal Navy officer who participated in two major exploratory expeditions, the Euphrates Expedition and the Franklin Expedition. Early life He was of illegitima ...

, Executive Officer, HMS ''Erebus'' *

as Assistant Surgeon

Harry Goodsir Henry ″Harry″ Duncan Spens Goodsir (3 November 1819 – ) was a Scottish physician and naturalist who contributed to the pioneering work on cell theory done by his brother John Goodsir. He served as surgeon and naturalist on the ill-fat ...

, HMS ''Erebus'' *

Adam Nagaitis Adam Matthew Nagaitis (; born 7 June 1985) is a British actor best known for his roles as Caulker's Mate Cornelius Hickey in the AMC television series ''The Terror'' and firefighter Vasily Ignatenko in the HBO miniseries ''Chernobyl''. Nagait ...

as Caulker's Mate Cornelius Hickey, HMS ''Terror'' *

Ian Hart Ian Davies (born 8 October 1964), better known by his stage name Ian Hart, is an English actor. His most notable roles are Rabbit in the Channel Four drama miniseries ''One Summer'' (1983), Joe O'Reilly in the biopic ''Michael Collins'' (1996) ...

as Sailing Master Thomas Blanky, HMS ''Terror'' * Nive Nielsen as Lady Silence, a

Netsilik The Netsilik (Netsilingmiut) are Inuit who live predominantly in Kugaaruk and Gjoa Haven of the Kitikmeot Region, Nunavut and to a smaller extent in Taloyoak and the north Qikiqtaaluk Region, in Canada. They were, in the early 20th century, a ...

woman *

as Captain

Sir John Franklin Sir John Franklin (16 April 1786 – 11 June 1847) was a British Royal Navy officer and Arctic explorer. After serving in wars against Napoleonic France and the United States, he led two expeditions into the Canadian Arctic and through t ...

, Commanding Officer, HMS ''Erebus'', and expedition leader

HMS ''Erebus''

HMS ''Terror''

Others

Season 2

Main

as Chester Nakayama (born Taizo Tanabe) *

as Yuko Tanabe *

as Luz Ojeda * Shingo Usami as Henry Nakayama *

as Asako Nakayama *

as Amy Yoshida *

as Nobuhiro Yamato

Recurring

Episodes

Season 1 (2018)

Season 2: ''Infamy'' (2019)

Production

Season 1

After the success of the show '' The Walking Dead'', the American cable TV network

planned to create a horror TV series based on the novel ''

The Terror The Reign of Terror (french: link=no, la Terreur) was a period of the French Revolution when, following the creation of the First Republic, a series of massacres and numerous public executions took place in response to revolutionary fervour, ...

''. In March 2016, it was confirmed that AMC ordered 10 episodes of the show, with an expected premiere date in 2018.

and

serve as co-showrunners, while Kajganich penned the adaptation.

Ridley Scott Sir Ridley Scott (born 30 November 1937) is a British film director and producer. Directing, among others, science fiction films, his work is known for its atmospheric and highly concentrated visual style. Scott has received many accolades thr ...

, Alexandra Milchan, Scott Lambert,

David W. Zucker David W. Zucker is a television executive and executive producer, best known for producing ''The Good Wife''. He is currently the Chief Creative Officer for Scott Free Productions. He is also the executive producer of notable shows like Eric Gar ...

, and Guymon Casady are executive producers. In September 2016, it was announced that

was cast as a series lead and the showrunners were seeking an

Inuit Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories ...

woman, between the ages of 16 and 30, to play an unspecified 'major character', most likely Lady Silence. Most of the scenes on the ice were created using CGI.

Season 2

The second season, titled ''The Terror: Infamy'', and consisting of 10 episodes, is co-created by

and

, who also serves as the showrunner.

plays the lead role of Chester Nakayama, a son of Japanese born immigrants who joins the army.

plays Yamato-san, a former fishing captain and community elder who was imprisoned with his family in two Japanese-American internment camps during WWII. Also cast are

as Yuko, a mysterious woman from Chester's past; Shingo Usami as Henry Nakayama, Chester's father; and

as Asako Nakayama, Chester's mother; and

as Amy, a Nakayama family friend. Takei also serves in a consulting role to ensure the accuracy of historical events and storytelling.

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 ...

was cast as Retired Major Hallowell Bowen, an official with the

War Relocation Authority The War Relocation Authority (WRA) was a United States government agency established to handle the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. It also operated the Fort Ontario Emergency Refugee Shelter in Oswego, New York, which was t ...

whose "presence looms over the Japanese-American characters in the story." Josef Kubota Wladyka directed the first two episodes of the season. Production began on January 14, 2019, in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

Possible third season

In January 2020, it was reported by ''

Deadline Hollywood ''Deadline Hollywood'', commonly known as ''Deadline'' and also referred to as ''Deadline.com'', is an online news site founded as the news blog ''Deadline Hollywood Daily'' by Nikki Finke in 2006. The site is updated several times a day, with ...

'' that AMC president Sarah Barnett had expressed interest in renewing ''The Terror'' for a third season and that AMC and

Scott Free Productions Scott Free Productions is an independent film and television production company founded in 1970 by filmmakers and brothers Ridley Scott and Tony Scott. They formed the feature film development company Percy Main Productions in 1980, naming the ...

were discussing plot ideas.

Release

The first season premiered on

in the United States and Canada on March 25, 2018, and concluded on May 21, 2018. It was released worldwide 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 ...

in every other country where the service is present (except Canada, the UK and some Middle Eastern countries) starting March 26, 2018. Amazon released most of the first season ahead of its broadcast on AMC. In the United Kingdom, ''The Terror'' premiered on

on April 24, 2018, and

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

on March 3, 2021.

Reception

Critical response

Season 1

The first season has received positive reviews from critics. On

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 season has a 94% "certified fresh" rating based on 69 reviews, with an average rating of 8.1/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "A thriller wrapped in a prestige drama package, ''The Terror'' makes for gripping, atmospheric supernatural horror." 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 ...

, which uses a weighted average, the season has a score of 76 out of 100, based on 20 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Season 2

The second season has received positive reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the season has a 81% "certified fresh" rating based on 43 reviews, with an average rating of 7.2/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Real-world and supernatural horrors collide in ''Infamy'', an exceptionally well-crafted ghost story that creeps under the skin and stays there." On Metacritic, the season has a score of 78 out of 100, based on 15 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Ratings

Season 1

Season 2

Awards and nominations

Notes

References

External links

* * * Interview with historical advisor Matthew Betts. {{DEFAULTSORT:Terror (TV series), The 2010s American drama television series 2010s American horror television series 2018 American television series debuts AMC (TV channel) original programming English-language television shows Horror drama television series Internment of Japanese Americans Television shows based on American novels Television series by Scott Free Productions Television series set in the 1840s Television series set in the 1940s Television shows filmed in Croatia Television shows filmed in Hungary World War II television drama series Franklin's lost expedition