October TV preview: A new HBO satire, Cate Blanchett, and What We Do In The Shadows’ final bow
Plus, a Satanic panic-spiked thriller, an Y Tu Mamá También reunion, an animated Tomb Raider series, and more
By Tim Lowery and Saloni Gajjar. Disclaimer (Photo: Apple TV+), The Franchise (Photo: Colin Hutton/HBO), Tomb Raider: The Legend Of Lara Croft (Image: Netflix)
It’s not quite Halloween season without a new horror show to feast on. And next month, Peacock gets credit for debuting two freaky projects: Teacup from producer James Wan and a Satanic panic-fueled thriller. Meanwhile, FX’s vampire comedy What We Do In The Shadow launches its sixth and final run. And over at HBO, Veep’s Armando Iannucci thankfully returns to EP a sardonic comedy about making a superhero movie. What’s more, the fall network TV lineup continues to take shape with a Young Sheldon spin-off, Reba McIntire’s latest, and the return of Abbott Elementary. Here is The A.V. Club’s guide to what to watch in October.
The Franchise (HBO, October 6)
The great Armando Iannucci (Veep, The Thick Of It, Knowing Me Knowing You With Alan Partridge) and Sam Mendes are two of the executive producers of this HBO comedy, a behind-the-scenes look at a disastrous superhero-film shoot. The cast is pretty promising, boasting the likes of Himesh Patel, Aya Cash, and Spaced’s Jessica Hynes, as is the dialogue. (To quote one particularly memorable line from the trailer: “Everything’s exploding at a million miles an hour, and the movie is a scrotum resting on a razor’s edge.”) [Tim Lowery]
La Máquina (Hulu, October 9)
Y Tu Mamá También and Emmys-night buds Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna team up for this Spanish-language drama, which follows a famed Mexican boxer (Bernal) as he gears up for one last fight with the help of his manager/BFF (Luna). But things take a bloody, thrilling turn when an anonymous caller tells the titular pugilist he has to throw the match. Daredevil scribe Marco Ramirez acts as showrunner on the six-episode miniseries, and Baby Driver’s Eiza González, Jorge Perugorría, and Andrés Delgado round out the cast. [Tim Lowery]
Teacup (Peacock, October 10)
The Handmaid’s Tale’s Yvonne Strahovski swaps one scary story for another with Teacup, which arrives just in time for spooky season. Strahovski leads the puzzle-box drama as Maggie Chenoweth, who lives on a Georgia ranch with her husband (Scott Speedman) when an unexpected and mysterious force attacks them, forcing the pair to band together with strangers for survival. At the show’s San Diego Comic-Con panel, showrunner Ian McCulloch said the pandemic isolation inspired the show’s writing. The cast includes Chaske Spencer, Kathy Baker, and Boris McGiver, and Teacup boasts James Wan as an executive producer. [Saloni Gajjar]
Tomb Raider: The Legend Of Lara Croft (Netflix, October 10)
Netflix gets in on that sweet, sweet Tomb Raider action with the animated show The Legend Of Lara Croft. Hayley Atwell takes on the challenge of the titular role here, with her version of Lara Croft going on perilous solo adventures, including a global pursuit to return a stolen Chinese artifact that shapes her identity as a hero. Created by Tasha Huo, the series takes place after the events of the Survivor video-game trilogy. The voice cast also features Allen Maldonado and Earl Baylon. [Saloni Gajjar]