Based on the award-winning 2017 novel of the same title, the horror-fantasy television series The Changeling is set to hit screens this fall. Set in an alternate New York City, the series is centered on the magical quest of Apollo Kagwa, a husband and new father whose life is thrown into chaos after his wife’s disappearance. Promising horror, magic, mystery, and everything in between, The Changeling is likely headed for a spot in Apple TV+’s best shows of 2023.
Keep reading to find out everything we know so far about The Changeling.
When and Where Can You Watch The Changeling?
It was announced in April 2021 that The Changeling had been given a series order at Apple TV+.
We can confirm that The Changeling will premiere on the aforementioned streaming giant on September 8, 2023. The series consists of eight episodes, with the first three episodes premiering on release day, and the remaining five airing weekly thereafter. The season finale is set to air on October 13, 2023.
In recent years, Apple TV+ has been praised for its gripping and original television shows. Highlights of 2023 include Rebecca Ferguson-led sci-fi dystopia Silo, and Idris Elba-led thriller Hijack. Plans start at $6.99 per month.
Is There a Trailer for The Changeling?
Apple TV released a trailer for The Changeling on their official YouTube channel on August 8, 2023. The trailer offers us a brief look at the early days of Apollo and Emmy’s relationship, as well as a strange – and, we suspect, cursed – encounter a young Emmy had while traveling in Brazil. A nervous and love-struck Apollo is shown repeatedly asking Emmy if she’d like to go on a date, to which she explains that the reason she keeps turning Apollo down is her planned move to Brazil in the near future. We see Emmy exploring the Brazilian woodland, where she encounters an old woman by a lagoon. Despite being warned to keep away from the area, Emmy approaches the old woman who places a red string around her wrist and tells her she has three wishes. She tells Emmy that when the string falls off, her wishes will come true – but to never, ever cut it. Sometime later, Apollo and Emmy reunite in New York and begin dating, and Apollo cuts the string from her wrist in a romantic – and ultimately disastrous – gesture. Additionally, we see Apollo and Emmy begin family life with their new child, and things start to take a turn for the worse. Unexplained occurrences plague the couple following the birth of their child, and when Emmy disappears, Apollo must come to terms with the fact that dark magic is at play as he sets out on his epic odyssey.
Who Is in the Cast of The Changeling?
The cast of The Changeling is headlined by LaKeith Stanfield (Knives Out) as Apollo, Clark Backo (Letterkenny) as Apollo’s wife Emmy, Adina Porter (American Horror Story), and Alexis Louder (Violent Night) as Apollo’s mother Lillian, and Samuel T. Herring (Tears of God) as William Wheeler, a man who befriends Apollo during his quest.
Joining them is Amirah Vann (Underground) as Emmy’s sister Kim, Malcolm Barrett (Timeless) as Apollo’s best friend Patrice, and Jared Abrahamson (Travelers) as Apollo’s father Brian.
What Is The Changeling About?
The Changeling is a horror fantasy series chronicling the epic quest of used book dealer Apollo Kagwa. When Apollo was a boy, he was abandoned by his father, which triggered bizarre recurring dreams throughout his childhood. The series begins with a now-adult Apollo and his wife Emmy welcoming the arrival of their first child. While Apollo strives to be the best father possible (despite his strange dreams returning), Emmy struggles with the challenge of parenthood. Exhausted and anxious, Emmy is thought to be living with post-partum depression, but when she commits a horrific act and vanishes without a trace, Apollo’s life is turned upside down. Thus begins Apollo’s mind-bending journey through dangerous and enchanted lands to track down Emmy and piece together the dark and complex mysteries that have haunted him for decades.
The official plot synopsis via Apple TV+ reads:
A fairy tale for grown-ups. A horror story, a parenthood fable and a perilous odyssey through a New York City you didn’t know existed.
What Is the Background of The Changeling?
The Changeling serves as Apple TV+’s latest installment in their varied collection of book-to-screen adaptations. Based on award-winning author Victor LaValle’s 2017 fantasy horror novel of the same title, The Changeling television series looks to be a faithful adaptation of its source material. LaValle received critical acclaim for The Changeling, including a spot on the New York Public Library’s top ten of 2017, a World Fantasy Award for Best Novel, a Locus Award for Horror Novel, and a British Fantasy Award for Horror Novel. We can’t wait to see LaValle’s outstanding source material hit screens this fall.
Who are the Creators of The Changeling?
The Changeling is adapted for the screen by Kelly Marcel (Fifty Shades of Grey) and is written by Marcel and Changeling author Victor LaValle (Horror Noire). The series features a team of directors including Jonathan van Tulleken (Top Boy), Dana Gonzales (The Handmaid’s Tale), Melina Matsoukas (Insecure), and Michael Francis Williams (David Makes Man). As well as starring as Apollo, LaKeith Stanfield serves as an executive producer on the show alongside creator and writer Marcel, directors Matsoukas and Tulleken, David Knoller (Lovecraft Country), Patrick Chu (Miss Sloane), Ali Krug (Pam & Tommy), Sue Naegle (The Staircase), Khaliah Neal (The Last Black Man in San Francisco), and Megan Ellison (Zero Dark Thirty). Series cinematographers include Steve Cosens (Cardinal), Christopher Norr (Sinister), and Marcell Rev (Euphoria), with music by Dan Deacon (Hustle).
More Shows Like The Changeling That You Can Watch Right Now
The Haunting of Hill House (2018) – Netflix supernatural horror The Haunting of Hill House centers on the Crain family; siblings Steven (Michiel Huisman and Paxton Singleton), Shirley (Elizabeth Reaser and Lulu Wilson), Theo (Kate Siegel and Mckenna Grace), Luke (Oliver Jackson-Cohen and Julian Hilliard), and Nell (Victoria Pedretti and Violet McGraw), and their parents Hugh (Timothy Hutton and Henry Thomas) and Olivia (Carla Gugino). Serving as horror filmmaker Mike Flanagan’s television debut, Hill House alternates between the present day and the life-changing summer of 1992, during which the Crains eventually fled from their haunted house after months of terror and torment. Now adults, the troubled Crain siblings are brought together once more following a family tragedy.
Stranger Things (2016 – Present) – Stranger Things is set in the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana, home of a national laboratory using human test subjects in their experiments with the supernatural. Following the accidental opening of a portal, the series begins with 12-year-old Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) mysteriously vanishing without a trace. Meanwhile, one of the lab’s subjects, telekinetic Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), escapes and joins up with Will’s friends to help them track him down. Together, the youngsters must make contact with the Upside Down (the realm beyond the portal) to bring home their missing friend.
The OA (2016 – 2019) – After being a missing person for seven years, formerly blind Prairie Johnson (Brit Marling) suddenly returns to her parents with her eyesight fully restored. Now referring to herself as the OA (original angel) and with mysterious scars on her shoulder blades, Prairie refuses to tell the FBI and her family what happened to her. As her nervous parents try to settle her back into their household, Prairie instead gathers five local misfits into an abandoned house and begins to explain her miraculous life-long experiences with the supernatural.
#LaKeith #Stanfields #Series
