Apple TV+ released the trailer for the upcoming series based on Victor LaValle’s The Changeling.
LaValle’s novel, published in 2017 by Spiegel & Grau, follows Apollo, a New York bookseller who goes in search of his wife and son after she attacks him and disappears with the young boy. In a starred review, a critic for Kirkus called the book “a smart and knotty merger of horror, fantasy, and realism.”
The series is written by Kelly Marcel, and stars LaKeith Stanfield as Apollo and Clark Backo as Emma, his wife.
The trailer opens with scenes from Apollo and Emma’s early courtship, set to Minnie Riperton’s “Les Fleur.” Emma tells Apollo about an encounter she had with a woman in Brazil, who tied a string around her wrist and told her that when it fell off she’d be granted three wishes.
It then segues into a horrorscape, with a cover of the standard “Stormy Weather” playing. “People don’t just disappear!” Apollo exclaims, with a panicked look on his face. It ends with a shot of Apollo falling, as an orchestra plays an unsettling crescendo.
Other cast members in the series include Adina Porter, Samuel T. Herring, and Amira Vann. Directors include Jonathan van Tulleken, Dana Gonzales, Melina Matsoukas, and Michael Francis Williams.
The Changeling premieres on Apple TV+ Sept. 8.
Michael Schaub, a journalist and regular contributor to NPR, lives near Austin, Texas.
