Bill Nighy (Shaun of the Dead, About Time, Living, The First Omen) is an actor whose casting can’t help but elevate everything he’s in. We were excited to see he’ll be in season two of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy. But another of his upcoming projects, Ascension, was already sounding pretty incredible even before he joined up. Now, we’re even more excited to see Apple TV’s next horror thriller series.
According to Deadline, Nighy has signed onto the series from Alfonso Cuarón (Children of Men, Gravity, Roma), which will be co-showrun by Natalie Erika James and Christian White. James recently wrote and directed the horror tale Saccharine, but she and White also co-wrote her 2020 film Relic and worked together on Rosemary’s Baby prequel Apartment 7A.
Outlander star Caitríona Balfe is also aboard the show, which is based on Adam Nevill’s 2012 novel Last Days. The trade says Ascension is “a one-hour psychological horror thriller following Rose (Balfe), a relentless documentary filmmaker and recently divorced mother who is brilliant at uncovering others’ truths but struggling to resolve her own. When Rose begins a project on a mysterious 20th-century cult known as the Church of Ascension, she finds unexpected refuge in its teachings—until she discovers something far more insidious beneath.”
“The series explores evil and innocence at the highest level, while asking how far we’ll go—and what we’ll sacrifice—to protect the ones we love, even when the greatest threat to them may be ourselves.”
As a series regular, Nighy will play a fellow documentarian named Zac “who hires Rose to work with him on a new project.”
So far there’s no release date for Ascension, but it sounds like what could be our next cult mystery obsession is moving along at a good pace.
Want more io9 news? Check out the best movies and TV shows to stream this month and all the upcoming sci-fi, fantasy, and horror books that should be on your radar.
