AMC’s The Terror moves forward to World War II for second season

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

The ten episode first season of the AMC series The Terror wrapped up last month, finishing the story it was adapting from the 2007 Dan Simmons novel of the same name. That story was set in the 1840s and followed members of the Royal Navy as they took a doomed journey to the Arctic. Not only did the characters have to contend with freezing weather, they were also being stalked by some sort of monster.

Simmons' tale has been told, but AMC has just ordered a ten episode second season of The Terror, and for this season the series is switching into anthology mode – an entirely new story has been crafted by the new creative team of Alexander Woo and Max Borenstein, with Woo set to serve as showrunner. Season 2 will be set  

during World War II and center on an uncanny specter that menaces a Japanese-American community from its home in Southern California to the internment camps to the war in the Pacific.

Ridley Scott will again be executive producing, along with Woo, Borenstein, Simmons, David W. Zucker, Alexandra Milchan, Scott Lambert, and Guymon Casady.

Woo had this to say about the plans for the second season: 

I'm deeply honored to be telling a story set in this extraordinary period. We hope to convey the abject terror of the historical experience in a way that feels modern and relevant to the present moment. And the prospect of doing so with a majority Asian and Asian-American cast is both thrilling and humbling."

AMC's president of originals David Madden added: 

The Terror has given us the opportunity to take a unique approach to the anthology format. We loved the concept of beginning with an actual historical event and overlaying it with a fictional horror element, and we are immensely proud of this show's combination of cinematic scope and intimate character work,. We are thrilled to announce a second season and dramatize one of the most chilling and important events of the 20th century, guided by the vision of the gifted Alexander Woo and Max Borenstein. Our deep appreciation goes to the persistently creative and passionate showrunning team of David Kajganich and Soo Hugh, the incomparable Ridley Scott and the rest of the producing team, and the outstanding cast led by Jared Harris for launching this concept and leaving us on the precipice of terrifying new adventures as we continue with the next chapter of The Terror."

The Terror season 2 will air on AMC sometime in 2019. I need to catch up on the first season, but I can definitely go along with the idea of a historical horror anthology.