Jenji Kohan’s new Salem Witch series just keeps getting better, here’s what we know
Wherever Jenji Kohan goes, we will follow. So, it looks as if we’re all off to Salem, Massachusetts. The brilliant mind behind one of our favs — OITNB — has a brand new show in the works, and it’s set during the Salem Witch Trials. On a scale of 1 to 10, we’re around level 15 excited for this.
According to Deadline, The Devil You Know is billed as a “provocative period drama” set in New England in the 1690s and will focus on an era in America when everyone assumed everyone else was a witch. It was a time of intolerance fueled by paranoia where women were persecuted for expressing their individuality—and although the show is billed as a period piece, we’re sure there will be plotlines that feel deeply relevant to today.
Honestly, we’d watch a show like this even if it weren’t from Jenji herself. So the fact that she’s in charge is like the icing on the cake. It’s also a joint project between HBO and Lionsgate TV, who have so far given us some of our favorite shows to begin with.
The cast is also phenomenal, with Eddie Izzard attached to star as the lead who happens to be the town’s Guy Most Likely to accuse someone of being a witch. Another awesome casting choice: Karen Gillan of Selfie, Guardians of the Galaxy and Doctor Who. She tweeted the news adding, “So excited to join this incredible cast. I am in awe of everyone.” We are too.
Did we mention who else is rounding out the series? Zawe Ashton (from the UK’s Fresh Meat), Ever Carradine (From Once and Again and 24) and Julian Rhind-Tutt (who was most recently in Rush).
So let all this sink in for a moment, and then remember that Jenji brought us the insane, complicated, female-driven world of Litchfield Penitentiary. Now start getting ridiculously excited for what she can do to Salem. Word is that the pilot will start shooting this spring in good ol’ Beantown, and HBO would be FOOLISH not to order a million seasons of this show. Honestly, we’d have to stage our own sort of trial if somehow this never made it to television.
Image via here.
