The cast and showrunner of Helstrom joined Comic-Con at Home to share more about the upcoming Hulu show, which we now know will premiere October 16.
The panel featured showrunner Paul Zbyszewski and cast Tom Austen, Sydney Lemmon, Elizabeth Marvel, Robert Wisdom, Ariana Guerra, June Carryl, and Alain Uy and was moderated by IGN’s Laura Prudom.
The panel started with a discussion around racial justice and how that applies to the show’s theme of facing evil. Then they introduced the first trailer for the upcoming series that you can watch below.
As seen in the trailer, the show is quite creepy and doesn’t skimp on the horror. Actress Sydney Lemmon who plays Ana Helstrom confirmed several of the locations they filmed at were spooky in real life as well.
Showrunner Paul Zbyszewski explained the idea behind the show came from wanting to bring a darker tone to the Marvel universe.
Providing some of the horror shown in the trailer is Victoria Helstrom, played by Elizabeth Marvel who said she channeled Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal for her performance.
However, themes of family are just as important to the show as horror.
“It’s a really bad dad story ultimately, “said Zbyszewski. “We’ve grounded it a little bit more in the real world but I was interested in that kind of take.”
The most important family relationship is between siblings Ana and Daimon Helstrom.
Tom Austen, who plays Daimon, explained their dynamic.
“In many ways, they are the closest family members in the show but in many other ways, they’re actually the furthest apart…We get to see how they try to meet each other again as adults and really as victims of childhood trauma that they both deal with in completely different ways.”
It was also confirmed during the panel that Ana and Daimon Helstrom have powers like in the comcis, but the cast wouldn’t reveal any major spoilers.
Other characters featured in the show will be Caretaker (played by Robert Wisdom), who will feature several changes from the comics and find himself caring for the soul of a young woman in the show.
Ariana Guerra will play Gabriella Rossetti, who works as Daimon’s partner. Although the relationship is complicated, Rossetti said that changes over the season.
“Gabriella begins to have a lot more empathy for Daimon because his backstory, his history with his family unfolds and you just realize this is someone who’s just really hurt.”
Rounding out the main cast are Alain Uy as Chris Yen and June Carryl as Louise Hastings.
Will you be tuning in to Marvel’s latest horror effort? Let us know in the comments.
Helstrom premieres on Hulu on October 16.