Season 2 of AMC’s horror anthology series “The Terror” will premiere on Aug. 12.
Season 1 centered on an ill-fated British naval expedition to find the Northwest Passage in the mid-1800s. The crews of both ships are stalked by a vicious creature.
Season 2, titled “The Terror: Infamy,” tells a completely different story. Set during World War II, it centers on a series of bizarre deaths that haunt a Japanese American community, and a young man’s journey to understand and combat the malevolent entity responsible.
The cast includes Derek Mio as Chester Nakayama; Kiki Sukezane as Yuko, a mysterious woman from Chester’s past; Cristina Rodlo as Luz, Chester’s secret girlfriend; Shingo Usami as Henry Nakayama, Chester’s father; Naoko Mori as Asako Nakayama, Chester’s mother; Miki Ishikawa as Amy, a Nakayama family friend; and George Takei as Yamato-san, a community elder and former fishing captain.
Season 2 is co-created and executive-produced by Alexander Woo (“True Blood”) and Max Borenstein (“Kong: Skull Island”), with Woo serving as showrunner. Production began in Vancouver in January and Josef Kubota Wladyka (“Narcos”) directed the first two episodes. Actress Lily Mariye (“ER”), who is also an established TV director, is directing Episode 5. Author Naomi Hirahara is serving as a consultant on the series.
“I’m deeply honored to be telling a story set in this extraordinary period,” Woo said. “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.”
On casting Takei, best known for playing Sulu on “Star Trek,” Woo told **Decider,** “I very much hoped George would be part of the show, but it’s a very painful experience. It’s not a given that everyone would want to dive into something as painful as this is.”
Takei, who was sent to camp with his family as a child, told **Variety,** “I’m the last generation that experienced the internment, and it’s my mission in life to make sure that chapter in history is not forgotten.”
Takei starred on Broadway in “Allegiance,” a musical about the Japanese American WWII experience.
“As a history buff and genre geek (not to mention a conscious American today), it’s clear that truth is always scarier than fiction,” Borenstein said. “This season of ‘The Terror’ uses as its setting one of the darkest, most horrific moments in our nation’s history. The Japanese American internment is a blemish on the nation’s conscience — and one with dire resonance to current events. I’m thrilled that AMC is giving us the chance to use that darkness as the inspiration for what I hope will be a trenchant, terrifying season of TV.”