This Spooky New Series Will Feature Your Fave Stars In Urban Legends

On Thursday, Oct. 3, outlets including Deadline and Variety reported that the horror anthology series 50 States of Fright is headed to Quibi, the forthcoming mobile streaming platform. Each episode of the spooky show will dive into a different urban legend. The tales highlighted in the first season of 50 States of Fright hail from Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Oregon, and Washington. As the outlets noted, 50 States of Fright sure has a lot of big stars in front of the camera and behind the scenes.

So far, the ensemble cast includes Rachel Brosnahan (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, House of Cards), Christina Ricci (The Addams Family, Speed Racer), Taissa Farmiga (American Horror Story, The Nun), John Marshall Jones (Hart of Dixie, Smart Guy), Ron Livingston (Sex and the City, Office Space), and many other recognizable faces. Sam Raimi (Evil Dead, Spider-Man) and Debbie Liebling (South Park, Bridesmaids) serve as executive producers. Sam Raimi also directed one of the episodes, which he cowrote with his brother Ivan Raimi.

Deadline also shared some details about a few of the episodes. The chapter based on a Colorado urban legend is called "Red Rum," and it is set to feature Ricci and Batalon. Given the title of the episode and the location, it feels fair to predict the story may have something to do with the real-life place that inspired The Shining's Overlook Hotel.

The Iowa episode, "Almost There," will star Farmiga and Livingston. This segment was penned and directed by A Quiet Place writers Bryan Woods and Scott Beck. "America's Largest Ball of Twine," which seems to be based on the gigantic ball of twine that resides in Kansas, stars Wen. Brosnahan, Fimmel, and Jones will be in the Michigan episode, which was written by the Raimi brothers and directed by Sam Raimi. The episode is called "The Golden Arm," which could reference the classic American and European folktale by the same name. The Minnesota episode, "Grey Cloud Island," stars Butterfield and is presumably based on the small (and reportedly haunted) town along the Mississippi River.

The show is produced by studio Gunpowder & Sky's horror line ALTER, and it sure sounds like they are going to produce some frightening content. As Deadline noted in the aforementioned article, Gunpowder & Sky CEO Van Toffler said in a press release, “With ‘50 States of Fright’ we sought out a diverse group of breakthrough performers and fearless horror visionaries and partnered them with Sam Raimi to oversee the creative process. This winning formula ensures we’ll get a s-load of scares.”

It could be a little while before 50 States of Fright is on a mobile device near you. As The Hollywood Reporter shared back in June, Quibi will not launch until April 6, 2020. A release date for 50 States of Fright has not been unveiled yet.