Viking munchkins and crucified scarecrows make for a very metal Emerald City trailer

By William Hughes | November 24, 2016 | 1:59am

TV Features TV

There have been a number of ”grim and gritty” reimaginings of L. Frank Baum’s classic The Wizard Of Oz over the years: the pop culture juggernaut of Wicked, obviously, but also Zooey Deschanel’s Tin Man, and even, in a way, the Motown update of The Wiz. But few have gone so far as to actually crucify the Scarecrow, or make the Munchkins look like extras from Vikings. For that degree of heavy metal Oz-ness, you’re going to have to turn to the trailer for NBC’s upcoming Emerald City.

The series stars Adria Arjona (Person Of Interest) as a grown-up version of Dorothy Gale, blown to Oz by a particularly brutal looking storm. Once there, she runs afoul of the usual groupings of mechanical men and witches—one of whom she hits with a cop car upon arrival, apparently—plus the Wizard himself, played by Vincent D’Onofrio. NBC’s been poking at the idea of a dark Oz TV show for a couple of years now, but this version of Emerald City at least has a pleasantly bright color palate to off-set its “heavy metal music video on the Yellow Brick Road” vibe. Emerald City premieres on NBC on January 6, 2017.