A teaser trailer and a batch of first-look images have been released online to give us a preview of HBO’s upcoming eight-episode horror comedy limited series The Baby. The trailer can be seen in the embed above, and the images can be found at the bottom of this article. The series is scheduled to premiere on Sunday, April 24 at 10:30 PM on HBO and will stream on HBO Max. A Sky Atlantic and NOW release date will come later in the year.
Created by Siân Robins-Grace and Lucy Gaymer, The Baby is described as being “a darkly funny, raw examination of motherhood, from the perspective of a woman who doesn’t want to be one.” Michelle De Swarte (The Duchess) stars in the series as
38-year-old Natasha, who is furious that her closest friends are all having babies. But when she is unexpectedly landed with a baby of her own, her life dramatically implodes. Controlling, manipulative, but incredibly cute, the baby twists Natasha’s life into a surreal horror show. As she discovers the true extent of the baby’s deadly nature, Natasha makes increasingly desperate attempts to get rid of it. She doesn’t want a baby. But the baby definitely wants her.
De Swarte is joined in the cast by Amira Ghazalla (The Rhythm Section) as Mrs. Eaves, the 70-year-old enigma who has spent the last fifty years living out of her car and seems to be everywhere the Baby is; Amber Grappy (Wrecked) as Bobbi, Natasha’s younger sister, a children’s magician who would love nothing more than to be a parent, to give love and to receive it; Patrice Naiambana (Spectre) as Natasha’s father Lyle; Sinéad Cusack (Marcella) as her mother Barbara; Shvorne Marks (Endeavour) as Mags; Isy Suttie (Peep Show) as Rita; Tanya Reynolds (Sex Education) as Helen; Seyan Sarvan (It’s a Sin) as Nour; Karl Davies (The Tower) as Jack; and Divian Ladwa (Ant-Man and the Wasp) as Fooze.
The Baby is a co-production between HBO and SKY, and is produced by SISTER and Proverbial Pictures. Robins-Grace receives an executive producer credit alongside Nicole Kassell and SISTER’s Jane Featherstone, Carolyn Strauss, and Naomi de Pear. Gaymer has a producer credit. The series is co-executive produced by Katie Carpenter.
The episodes of the show were written by Siân Robins-Grace, Susan Soon He Stanton, Kara Smith, Anchuli Felicia King, and Sophie Goodhart. They were directed by Nicole Kassell, Stacey Gregg, Faraz Shariat, and Ella Jones.
The Baby looks like it could be a crazy, goofy good time. I’ll probably give it a chance at some point.
Here are the first-look images: