Just in case the idea of an all-new Twilight Zone borne of the mind of the man who gave us Get Out wasn’t appealing enough, the series is pulling out all the stops to assemble the greatest cast in television history (not including Night Court, naturally). Check below for all the casting updates as they hit the news!
UPDATE, 1/29/19
A pair of actors familiar with the art of the scare are joining Jordan Peele’s Twilight Zone reboot. First we have Taissa Farmiga, American Horror Story star and younger sister of fellow horror vet Vera Farmiga. Also on board is Ike Barinholtz, who, yes, is far better known for his comic stylings than he is for anything in the vein of horror, but lest we forget his turn as a mortifying demon clown in that one scene in Neighbors 2. The pair joins the series for an episode that will also star Luke Kirby, who plays Lenny Bruce in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and Rhea Seehorn of Better Call Saul.
UPDATE, 12/12/18
The latest addition to the series is reportedly Steven Yeun, best known for his zombie-slaying toils on The Walking Dead, but also beloved for his work in Okja and this year’s Sorry to Bother You and Burning. Collider reports that Yeun will play the lead role in an episode called “The Traveler,” though details are otherwise scant.
UPDATE, 12/03/18
A new batch of guest actors has been added to Jordan Peele’s The Twilight Zone remount at CBS All Access. CBS has announced that Jacob Tremblay, John Cho, and Allison Tolman have all been cast in the episode “The Wunderkind.”
UPDATE, 11/15/18
CBS has announced another name for their remake of The Twilight Zone. Kumail Nanjiani (The Big Sick, Silicon Valley) is joining the previously announced narrator/host Jordan Peele and other cast members Sanaa Lathan and Adam Scott.
UPDATE, 10/26/18
Jordan Peel’s Twilight Zone reboot is reinventing some classic episodes of the spooky series, including “Nightmare at 30,000 Feet.” Via Entertainment Weekly, they’ve cast none other than Adam Scott for that episode (an episode which has been made two different times already as “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet” starring William Shatner and John Lithgow).
UPDATE, 10/02/18
On October 2, 1959, Rod Serling’s unflinching tales of the supernatural premiered on CBS, and for the next five seasons–and the next 59 years–The Twilight Zone was a shorthand for a place where normal things don’t happen very often. Taking regular people and putting them in supremely unrealistic scenarios, The Twilight Zone was able to tap in to fears and anxieties of America and the world.
Jordan Peele and Simon Kinberg’s updated series looks to recapture that magic next year, but CBS announced principal photography for the new series began Monday, Oct. 1 in Vancouver, British Columbia, 59 years after the premiere of the original series. The Twilight Zone will premiere on CBS All Access in 2019.
UPDATE, 9/20/18 – As revealed by an appropriately eerie new trailer, Jordan Peele will not only serve as the creative force behind the new iteration of The Twilight Zone, but will in fact be taking over Rod Serling’s spotlighted position as series host. If we should expect the new series to uphold the traditional format of the franchise, this will likely translate to Peele introducing episode premises, providing some narration, and wrapping things up at the end with a few quick maxims about why humankind is sort of a blight. The teaser also reveals that the series will premiere sometime in 2019 on CBS All Access. Watch below to get in a spooky mood!
— Jordan Peele (@JordanPeele) September 20, 2018
12/6/17 – More than a year after the initial announcement of the project, CBS All Access’ Twilight Zone reboot has landed an official creative team. Jordan Peele, he of Key & Peele and director of the incredible Get Out, will produce the project along with X-Men kingpin Simon Kinberg and Daredevil and The Defenders producer Marco Ramirez. No further details yet, though Get Out has given us hope that Peele can really instill a Twilight Zone series with the sort of biting social commentary and creative sci-fi and thriller premises that made the original run such a cultural phenomenon.
4/18/16 – As the opening narration of The Twilight Zone often noted, “You unlock this door with the key of imagination.” BioShock creator Ken Levine knows a lot about unlocking doors to other worlds, and he’ll be one of the key figures behind the upcoming revival of The Twilight Zone!
The Wrap is reporting that CBS and Interlude are bringing The Twilight Zone back as an interactive experience. Essentially, the new Twilight Zone will give viewers a “choose your own adventure†approach to the story by allowing them to make choices that affect the narrative. According to CBS, the new incarnation “will honor the original series†while also allowing fans to revisit the story to explore multiple outcomes. This Twilight Zone sounds more like a game than a TV series, which makes sense given Levine’s background in game development.
Although CBS didn’t say where the new Twilight Zone would run, it seems like a natural fit for CBS All Access, the streaming service that already has a new Star Trek series lined up to debut next year. Adding The Twilight Zone to that package could make CBS All Access more enticing for genre fans.
The Twilight Zone was created and hosted by Rod Serling in 1959, and it became widely acclaimed as one of the greatest television series of all time. The Twilight Zone has previously been revived twice as a TV series, and once as a feature film.
Are you excited about the return of The Twilight Zone as an interactive experience? Let us know what you’re thinking in the comment section below!
Featured Image: Universal
