Saturday, the home of Orphan Black will debut something new: the scary-looking BBC America series Intruders . Considering the new series will air in the time slot of the beloved sci-fi show Orphan Black, so we can't help but wonder: could Intruders possibly be our new cult obsession? It's hard to tell, since all the teasers and posters for the show so far have been super mysterious. It's hard to get a handle on what exactly Intruders is about, other than creepy people doing creepy things. Here's what the official Intruders premise has to say:
Intruders is about a secret society devoted to chasing immortality by seeking refuge in the bodies of others. A contemporary, chilling, paranormal tale set in the moody Pacific Northwest, the eight part series spins a fascinating and complex web of drama. As strange, apparently unrelated events start happening, multiple story-lines – a missing wife, an assassin covering his crimes, a child on the run – begin to intertwine to reveal a conspiracy that will forever change our understanding of human nature.
Just in case HBO didn't give us our fill of cults with The Leftovers' Guilty Remnant, BBC America is now getting in on the secret society game. But what kind of cult "seeks refuge in the bodies of others?" Are these humans with supernatural powers? Demons? Aliens? ...Clones? (What if Intruders is just a secret Orphan Black spinoff?) The identity of the cult is unclear at this point, but hopefully the show will have a satisfying answer — and not make us wait too long for it.
The parallels between Orphan Black and Intruders go deeper than the fact that they're both dramas with a sci-fi twist that air on the same channel. Here are just a few of the similarities between the two series:
Shadowy groups with weird names
- OB: Prolethians/Neolutionists
- I: Qui Reverti
Central characters portrayed by talented women
- OB: Tatiana Maslany as several clones
- I: Oscar-winner Mira Sorvino (above) as Amy
Young girls with strange abilities
- OB: Kira and her superhealing powers
- I: Madison, who may or may not be harboring someone else's soul
Assassins targeting specific people
- OB: Helena killing off her fellow clones
- I: Richard Shepherd (James Frain from True Blood) leaving a trail of corpses in his pursuit of Madison
Showrunners with experience in the horror genre
- OB: Graeme Manson (Cube) & John Fawcett (Ginger Snaps)
- I: Glen Morgan (The X-Files)
All of this has us hopeful that Intruders won't disappoint. Granted, it doesn't have Maslany in its cast, which automatically means it won't be as mind-blowingly awesome as Orphan Black , but it could still be a fun, scary, addictive mystery that will help us pass the time until Sarah Manning and her many sestras return to us next year.
And, for those too impatient to wait eight weeks to find out what the heck is going on on this brain-teaser of a show, you're in luck: Intruders is actually based on a book, Michael Marshall's 2007 novel The Intruders . While there's no guarantee the show will follow the events of the novel beat-by-beat, if you're starved for answers, Marshall's source material would probably be an excellent place to start.
Intruders premieres Saturday, August 23 at 10 p.m. ET.
Image: Cate Cameron/BBC America (2)
