For those not in the know, Hulu’s “Helstrom” is based on the Marvel Comics characters Daimon and Satana Hellstrom, and will be a standalone story set in the MCU. The show is set to premiere October 16th The jam-packed panel included showrunner Paul Zbyszewski and the main cast—Tom Austen, Sydney Lemmon, Elizabeth Marvel, Robert Wisdom, Ariana Guerra, June Carryl, and Alain Uy. If you want to watch the whole thing you can check out the panel below, but here are the highlights!
- Showrunner Paul Zbyszewski started off with some strong words calling for solidarity with the black community and people of color in general, demanding action and change. He said the show may be horror, but it’s not “real horror” such as what we’re seeing now.
- Following this, many members of the cast also expressed their solidary, including Robert Wisdom (who famously acted on “The Wire”), and June Carryl.
- Up next was the teaser – check it out!
- While the teaser only provided glimpses, it certainly looked edgy, sufficiently edgy that you get why it’s airing on Hulu rather than Disney+!
- The great Elizabeth Marvel, who plays Victoria Helstrom is convinced the hospital they shoot at is haunted.
- Everyone agrees, especially when she does the “crazy voice”. Marvel says two security guards mistook her vocal warm-up for the sound of a bear!
- Zbyszewski says he always wanted to bring a darker tone to the MCU on TV, leaning more towards horror. He gravitated towards the family story, saying this is based on the comic “The Son of Satan”, which he says is definitely a “bad dad story.” He says one panel in particular in “Marvel Spotlight 13” influenced the show, which showed Daimon Helstorm in his mother’s library learning his origin story through her diary. It was the tears streaming down his face that gave them the entree into the world, which is rooted in emotion that’s easy to understand.
- Tom Austen – whose connection very nearly gave out on him (demons?) touched on some of the things Zbyszewski said, and in particular, is intrigued but the dynamic between him and his sister on the show, Ana, played by Sydney Lemmon.
- For her part, Lemmon feels Ana and Daimon are plagued by their history and characterized by what they’ve overcome. While Ana and Daimon are different in some ways, at the end of the day they both want the same thing.
- For her part, Marvel says the story is almost Shakespearean, before quickly adding, “sorry, I’ve been stuck on a farm too long and I’m rambling!”
- Robert Wisdom, who plays Caretaker, said he was offered the part four days before the first table read and got very little time to prepare, but received several crash courses about the character’s history, although Zbyszewski says the character’s been reinvented compared to the comic.
- Ariana Guerra, June Carryl, and Alain Uy also weighed-in on their characters, with them playing Gabriella Rossetti, Louise Hastings, and Chris Yen.
- Zbyszewski promises that the show is packed with Easter eggs, with June Carryl promising its “ridiculous” in the best way, while Austen says he’s most excited for people to see the second half of the season, which flips everything on its head.
- Uy then went on a bleeped out spoiler rant which cracked up the cast, although Marvel warned “oh no, someone might hack this!”
Here's the whole panel if you want to check it out for yourself!
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