October TV preview: Carrie White, Pamela Voorhees, and Cathy Ames are among the monsters of spooky season

Spooky season is upon us, and while that does mean we’re about to see a notable increase in horror programming on screens both large and small, things that go bump in the night aren’t as prevalent this year as you might expect. Sure, Peacock’s going to delve into the origin story of Jason Voorhees’ mother with Friday The 13th prequel Crystal Lake, and horror maestro Mike Flanagan will almost certainly give Carrie one hell of a monologue in the midst of her ritual public humiliation. But October also holds no shortage of prestige offerings, from a Netflix take on John Steinbeck’s East Of Eden to War, HBO’s latest tale of rich marrieds behaving badly. Here’s The A.V. Club’s guide for what to watch on TV this October. 

East Of Eden (Netflix, 10/1)

Florence Pugh stars as one of Western literature’s most monstrous women in Netflix’s ambitious take on John Steinbeck’s classic East Of Eden, which clearly aims to complicate our understanding of Cathy Ames in exciting new ways. (Translation: Get ready for Discourse!) A sprawling multi-generational tale that’s one part Biblical allegory and one part family drama, it’s a story of good, evil, and the choices we must all make between them. (Fun fact: the seven-part series hails from Zoe Kazan, whose grandfather, Elia Kazan, directed the 1955 film version of East Of Eden starring James Dean.)

War (HBO, 10/1)

Dominic West and Sienna Miller lead this slick prestige drama about a tech titan and a movie star trying to divorce/publicly decimate each other, and the scrambling staff at the two rival law firms representing them. The first installment in a new anthology series from Lupin creator George Kay—the already greenlit season two will star Marisa Tomei, Kelly Macdonald, and David Harewood—War has big Succession meets Industry vibes, which means a whole lot of betrayal and backstabbing is surely on the way. Archie Renaux, Phoebe Fox, James McArdle, Nina Sosanya, Pip Torrens, Celia Imrie, and Nick Mohammed also star.

Small Prophets (Apple TV, 10/7)

This fantastical comedy from Mackenzie Crook (Detectorists) is already a hit in the U.K. and is clearly hoping to make a similar splash in America, where its offbeat, weirdo charm is a perfect fit for Apple TV. Pearce Quigley stars as store clerk Michael, who turns to medieval alchemy in the hopes of finding out what happened to his missing girlfriend, with a little help from a younger colleague (Lauren Patel)  and his eccentric father (Michael Palin). 

Carrie (Prime Video, 10/7)

Few stories feel as primed for a modern update as Stephen King’s Carrie, and few creators seem as uniquely positioned to take on such a daunting project as Mike Flanagan, the man behind (excellent) series like The Fall Of The House Of Usher and The Haunting Of Hill House. Flanagan’s TV adaptation reimagines the familiar story of teenage bullying and isolation for the social media generation, in case you needed further evidence that TikTok and Instagram are tools of darkness. Summer H. Howell stars as the titular tortured teen alongside horror faves like Amber Midthunder, Matthew Lillard, and Samantha Sloyan.

Below (Netflix, 10/8)

Josh Hartnett battles a sea monster and deals with long-buried family secrets in this atmospheric series that feels like Widow’s Bay if Widow’s Bay abandoned humor in favor of just being straight up scary. Hartness plays Calvin, a fisherman in a remote town in Newfoundland who must fight to protect his family and their town’s way of life against an unknown and unidentified threat from the deep. Below also stars Mackenzie Davis, Charlie Heaton, Ruby Stokes, Kaleb Horn, Rohan Campbell, and Willow Kean. 

Avatar: Seven Havens (Paramount+, 10/9)

 Twelve years after The Legend Of Korra wrapped up its run, we’re getting a new Avatar series from Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko. Set over 200 years after Korra in a world reshaped by a devastating calamity, Avatar: Seven Havens follows earthbender Pavi, a new Avatar coming of age in a dangerous era where she’s hunted by both human and spirit enemies and viewed as a destroyer rather than a savior. With some help from her twin sister and an adorable cat-monkey creature, she’ll have to find a way to save civilization. The voice cast includes Eric Nam, Dave Bautista, Román Zaragoza, Jessica Matten, and Dionne Quan. 

VisionQuest (Disney+, 10/14)

Five years after WandaVision premiered, Disney+ is wrapping up the superpowered couple’s story—and the era of risky, occasionally acclaimed superhero television it represents—with VisionQuest, the story of the revived android with the consciousness of Tony Stark’s AI butler, who’s been in hiding since Wanda Maximoff released her hold over Westview and he regained his memory. But when a bounty is placed on his head, he ends up on the run with a mysterious boy named Thomas Shepherd, and the gaggle of artificial intelligences he’s absorbed over the years. (Yes, one of them is Ultron.) Ruaridh Mollica, James Spader, Todd Stashwick, and T’Nia Miller also star.

Crystal Lake (Peacock, 10/15)

The biggest surprise about Peacock’s Crystal Lake is probably that no one has tried to do a Mrs. Voorhees prequel before now. The series stars the always awesome Linda Cardellini as Pamela, the mother of the infamous, hockey mask-wearing killer Jason, who (supposedly) fatally drowned in the town lake before the events of the first Friday The 13th movie. A year after her son’s (alleged) death, Pamela’s still struggling to process her grief when a pair of strangers arrive at Camp Crystal Lake and start digging into her past. Just a hunch, but they’re probably not going to like what they find. 

Kate Berlant: Parmesan (HBO, 10/16)

Kate Berlant’s second stand-up special finds the actress and comedian moving house from Hulu to HBO, but her surrealist and stream-of-consciousness-style humor stays exactly the same. Filmed at the Plaza Nightclub in Los Angeles, the hour-long set sees Berlant skewer social media, sexuality, and the various daily horrors of life in our current political and cultural moment. 

Nocturne (Apple TV, 10/30)

Photo: Apple TV

“Nordic noir, but make it Pennsylvania” seems to be the guiding force behind this Apple TV thriller, which is based on the novels Lazarus and The Sandman by Swedish author Lars Kepler (the pen name of husband-and-wife writing duo Alexander and Alexandra Coelho Ahndoril). Liev Schreiber stars as a former homicide detective who relocates to a quiet town in Western PA, only to discover a dangerous serial killer is on the loose. Stephen Graham, Zazie Beetz, Rory Culkin, Chrissy Metz, Poorna Jagannathan, and Bill Camp also star. 

More October premieres

10/1

Coven Academy (Freeform)

10/2

Kill Jackie (AMC+)

Tip Toe (Starz)

10/3

Get Jiro (Adult Swim)

10/8

Eternally Yours (CBS)

Cupertino (CBS)

10/11

Treasure Island (MGM+)

10/20

Phony (Hulu)

10/23

Newlyweds (NBC)

Yaga (AMC+)

10/26

The Mob (Hulu)

 

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