Tales from the Crypt , one of the most beloved horror anthologies of the 1990s and one of the most beloved comic books of all time, is getting a reboot at TNT.
That much, you already knew.
What you may not have known, however, is that a release date is now in sight. While nothing is really official until it’s official, so to speak, TNT President Kevin Reilly informed Slashfilm that fans of the Crypt Keeper and all his ghoulishness can expect a landfall sometime in the fourth quarter of 2017.
Since it’s now August and Halloween is less than three months around the corner, most were probably aware that they wouldn’t be seeing the M. Night Shyamalan-produced show until next year, but the exact date has remained a mystery.
With it now slated for the fourth quarter of 2017, it would make sense for TNT to drop Tales from the Crypt sometime in October.
However, it will have to be very careful about that release date, as The Walking Dead generally premieres during the end of October, and it has quite the head start on general audiences.
Still, is there really any other time to release Tales from the Crypt ? The most easily recognizable anthology that dealt in the pure macabre belongs on horror’s happiest holiday, so you should expect a little friendly competition.
However, TNT would be wise not to go for Sunday nights as TWD pretty much has that bit of broadcast real estate staked out, and barring any more anger-inducing cliffhangers, it will probably have the space for as long as it wants.
Beautiful Creatures: Tales from the Crypt https://t.co/XHB8rs50aL pic.twitter.com/UyLVbJpXdg
— Psycho Drive-In (@PsychoDriveIn) August 7, 2016
In another portion of the Slashfilm interview, Reilly said that content for the new Tales from the Crypt would be a combination of “standalone, serialized, and crowdsourced stories.”
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“Some of those shorts are going to be crowdsourced ultimately,” Reilly said. “I don’t even think we’ve announced this yet but we are working with Wattpad and ultimately I’d like some material to come from [viewers]. We have some Guild issues we need to work out on this, but I’d like fan fiction to essentially make its way to our air.”
So if you have a short story or horror novel up on Wattpad , now would be a good time to pay attention to Tales from the Crypt.
Thankfully, Reilly intends to give the new series plenty of time to breathe when it comes to content. In other words, you’re going to get more than just the standard 30 minutes that HBO allotted to it during the ’90s.
This takes me back. TNT’s “Tales From the Crypt” Gets Tentative Premiere Window – https://t.co/Fyh2Fxj01x #horror pic.twitter.com/ga4JZRI47I
— Christina Persaud (@ScaryChristina) August 5, 2016
“I think it may even be longer than an hour,” Reilly continued.
“There’s going to be a half-hour anthology and then a one-hour original show with some shorts in between. So it’s part of a whole block. The original half-hour, sort of slightly comedic, kind of twisted [story] that Night himself is going to direct will be a part of it every week. Then we’re going to have rotating original one-hours. Then we’ve got shorts that’ll be part of it too.”
What you won’t be getting, unfortunately, is the lovable John Kassir-voiced puppet that put HBO’s incarnation of the material on the map. As Reilly points out in the Slashfilm interview, the rights on TFTC are a “disaster.” However, as you can see from the Inquisitr’s previously published block above, the Crypt-Keeper will be part of the show. He’ll just have to be “different enough,” Reilly said.
What do you think of this latest Tales from the Crypt news, fans? Sound off in the comments section.
[Image via HBO]