The Changeling review: LaKeith Stanfield leads a stunning horror series

“A baby is a dream made real / But dreams are faeries’ favorite meal.” This is a line we encounter numerous times throughout The Changeling, the television adaptation of Victor LaValle’s fairytale horror novel of the same name that premieres September 8 on Apple TV+. And it suitably sets the dark/light tone this show builds: There’s the dream, here’s the threat. It has a haunting beauty and is properly scary. It’s a bit like Lovecraft Country, something adjacent to Helen Oyeyemi’s fiction, and includes certain elements of gothic literature and Shirley Jackson’s style. (It’s no surprise LaValle has won the Shirley Jackson Award for his work.) The author describes having been inspired to write this story as he engaged in “pain in the ass” new dad behavior, including posting compulsively to social media after the birth of his first son. This led him to ponder how casually children can be put into dangerous situations, which brought him, of course, to fairy tales. (There are so many ogres eating babies in those things. Seriously, they have a problem.)

And man, is this ever a beautiful portrait of fatherhood, as only a deeply devoted parent can paint it. LaValle has clearly brought his authentic self to this. Show creator/writer Kelly Marcel granted him input on all scripts, he was invited to set daily (around his family’s schedule), and was given an executive producer credit. He also shows up to narrate the thing. And so, naturally, this feels like his voice, perhaps a semi autobiographical work, but definitely one that stemmed from his own parental existential dread. Lakeith Stanfield, a father himself and an actor whose body of work resonates with Lavalle’s style of storytelling, so beautifully portrays our hero (and seeming LaValle stand-in) Apollo Kagwa. It’s perfect casting. He’s understated, mostly, but can burst into gleeful moments of theatricality when moved by joy, doing voices and putting his whole body into his bits. He’s also genuinely funny for a lead in a scary show, a credit to the writing as well as his own comedic sensibility. And he can translate Apollo’s pain so palpably that we feel it in our viscera.

That could have something to do with the fact that what he experiences in this is truly gut-wrenching. It’s nightmarish, especially if you have kids, but there’s some body horror in there, too, to make us all wince. Without spoiling too much, let’s just say harm does come to the child, Apollo’s baby boy, Brian. And it does dance with postpartum psychosis. After their child is born, his wife Emma Valentine (Clark Backo) keeps receiving mysterious photos via text, photos that keep disappearing before Apollo can see them. Meanwhile, neither of them are sleeping, which drives both deeper into madness as the texts keep coming (and vanishing), deepening the growing rift between them. That is, until something unthinkable happens, leaving Apollo alone to make sense of it all and navigate a frightening, hidden world that unfolds for him.

There are so many interesting threads in this terrifying tale, including a literal one that Emma has tied around her wrist by a bruxa in the Brazilian woods that allows her to make three wishes that come true when it’s cut. (Two are normal and known to us; one is secret and creepy.) Some other narratives involve a Norse curse, an occult Facebook mommies group called “The Wise Ones,” weirdness with Apollo’s mom and estranged dad, as well as Emma’s childhood baggage (really serious baggage, actually). If that sounds like a lot, it kind of is. It’s not too tough to get lost in the proverbial woods here, but even when we do, this show has established enough trust through competent storycraft that we catch up—and know it’s worth it.