''Cult'' is an American

mystery Mystery, The Mystery, Mysteries or The Mysteries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters *Mystery, a cat character in ''Emily the Strange'' *Mystery, a seahorse that SpongeBob SquarePants adopts in the episode " My Pre ...

psychological thriller Psychological thriller is a Film genre, genre combining the thriller (genre), thriller and psychological fiction genres. It is commonly used to describe literature or films that deal with psychological narratives in a thriller or thrilling setting ...

television series created by Rockne S. O'Bannon that ran on

The CW The CW Network, LLC (commonly referred to as The CW or simply CW) is an American commercial broadcast television network which is controlled by Nexstar Media Group through a 75% ownership interest. The network's name is derived from the firs ...

from February 19 to July 12, 2013. The series centers on a journalist blogger and a production assistant, who investigate a series of mysterious disappearances that are linked to a popular television series named ''Cult''. On February 27, 2013,

announced that starting March 8 ''Cult'' would air on Fridays at 9:00 pm Eastern/8:00 pm Central. On April 10, 2013, ''Cult'' was canceled and removed from the schedule. The CW began airing the six remaining episodes on June 28, 2013.

Plot

The series follows Jeff (

Matthew Davis Matthew Wadsworth Davis (born May 8, 1978) is an American actor. He is mostly known for his roles as Warner Huntington III in ''Legally Blonde'', Adam Hillman on the American Broadcasting Company, ABC comedy-drama ''What About Brian'' (2006–20 ...

), a journalist blogger, and Skye (

Jessica Lucas Jessica Lucas (born September 24, 1985) is a Canadian actress. She is known for her roles in television, such as '' The Resident'', '' Edgemont'', ''Melrose Place'', ''Cult'', and '' Gotham'', and in the films '' The Covenant'', ''Cloverfield'' ...

), a production researcher on a popular television crime series called ''Cult'', as they investigate the fans of the series, who could be re-creating the crimes committed on the series.

Cast and characters

Main

as Jeffrey Dean "Jeff" Sefton, a journalist blogger. *

as Skye Yarrow, a production assistant. *

Alona Tal Alona Tal (, ; born ) is an Israeli actress and singer. She is known for her roles in ''Veronica Mars'' as cheerleader List of Veronica Mars characters#Meg Manning, Meg Manning, in ''Supernatural (American TV series), Supernatural'' as budding m ...

as Marti Gerritsen, an actress playing Kelly Collins on a show called ''Cult''. *

Robert Knepper Robert Lyle Knepper (born July 8, 1959) is an American actor best known for his role as Theodore "T-Bag" Bagwell in the Fox drama series ''Prison Break'' (2005–2009, 2017), Samuel Sullivan in the final season of the NBC series '' Heroes'' ...

as Roger Reeves, an actor playing Billy Grimm on a show called ''Cult''.

Recurring

Marie Avgeropoulos Marie Avgeropoulos (Greek: Μαρία "Μαρί" Αυγεροπούλου; born 17 June 1986) is a Canadian actress and model. She is best known for her role as Octavia Blake on The CW's post-apocalyptic science fiction television series '' Th ...

as Kirstie *

Christian Cooper Christian Cooper (born 1963) is an American science writer and editor, and also a comics writer and editor. He is based in New York City. In 2023, Random House published Cooper's memoir, ''Better Living Through Birding: Notes from a Black Man i ...

as Andy *

Aisha Hinds Aisha Hinds is an American television, stage and film actress and director. She had supporting roles in a number of television series, including '' The Shield'', ''Invasion'', ''True Blood'', '' Detroit 1-8-7'' and '' Under the Dome''. In 2016, s ...

as Det. Roslyn Sakelik *

Stacey Farber Stacey Farber (born August 25, 1987) is a Canadian actress. She played Ellie Nash in seasons 2 through 8 of the television series '' Degrassi: The Next Generation''. From 2010 to 2011, she starred in the CBC series '' 18 to Life.'' From 2014 t ...

as E.J. * Ben Hollingsworth as Peter Grey *

Jeffrey Pierce Jeffrey Pierce (born Jeffrey Douglas Plitt; December 13, 1971) is an American actor. He is best known for providing the voice and motion capture for Tommy in the video games ''The Last of Us'' (2013) and '' The Last of Us Part II'' (2020), wi ...

as Stuart Reynolds *

Kadeem Hardison Kadeem Hardison (born July 24, 1965) is an American actor. The son of fashion model Bethann Hardison, he rose to prominence after landing the role of Dwayne Wayne on the television series ''A Different World'', a spin-off of the NBC sitcom ''T ...

as Paz

Production

''Cult'' was originally supposed to air on the now defunct network,

The WB The WB Television Network (shortened to The WB, stylized as "THE WB", and nicknamed the "Frog Network" and/or "The Frog" for its former mascot Michigan J. Frog) was an American television network that ran from 1995 to 2006. It launched on ter ...

. When The WB was replaced by The CW, the executives of The CW at that time dropped the show, which was supposed to star

Matthew Bomer Matthew Staton Bomer ( ; born October 11, 1977) is an American actor. List of roles and awards of Matt Bomer, His works have earned him accolades including a Golden Globe Award and a Critics' Choice Television Award, in addition to nominations ...

. In January 2012, a revised version of the series was revived on

with a pilot order. The series was created by Rockne S. O'Bannon, who also serves as executive producer alongside

Josh Schwartz Joshua Ian Schwartz (born August 6, 1976) is an American screenwriter and television producer. He is best known for creating and executive producing the Fox teen drama series '' The O.C.'' which ran for 4 seasons. Schwartz is also known for dev ...

Stephanie Savage Stephanie Savage (born 1969) is a screenwriter and television producer from Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Savage is best known for developing The CW's teen drama series ''Gossip Girl'' (2007) from the novel series, and being an executive producer of t ...

, Len Goldstein and the production companies

Warner Bros. Television Warner Bros. Television Studios, operating under the name Warner Bros. Television (abbreviated as WBTV; formerly known as Warner Bros. Television Division), is an American television production and distribution studio and the flagship studio o ...

and Fake Empire.

was cast in the lead role of Skye Yarrow in February 2012, a young production assistant who teams with a journalist blogger to investigate the fans of a popular television series entitled ''Cult''.

was cast next as Marti Gerritsen, the actress playing the role of Kelly Collins in the fictional series ''Cult''.

then followed in the role of Roger Reeves, the actor playing the role of Billy Grimm in the show-within-a-show.

was cast in the lead role of Jeff Sefton, the journalist blogger working with Skye and Andrew Leeds was cast in the recurring role of Kyle Segal, the executive working on the show-within-a-show. Ben Hollingsworth will also have a recurring role, as associate producer Peter Grey.

joined the series in a recurring role as E.J. a tech-savvy girl, who works with Jeff and helps him in the search for his sibling. The pilot was officially picked up by The CW on May 11, 2012. About the show's reception, Rockne S. O'Bannon said: "It was such an unusual piece of material, and for better or for worse, such a singular vision piece that the network and the studio were very respectful of what I wanted to do with it. I'm very proud of this show because, though it went nowhere very quickly, it was very well received." Star Matt Davis blames '' Cult'' being canceled on marketing and jokingly express his frustration over the announcement on Twitter:"Good news Cult fans! Cult has been renewed for the next ten season due to its brilliant marketing campaign! Good job everyone." and then added "It was a wonderful learning experience, and exciting misadventure." About the show cancelation, Jessica Lucas said: "That show was never supposed to be just a thirteen-episode show. It opened up a ton of questions in the first season and you never get to find out what happened. But this is the nature of it and I don’t do things for results, I do things for experience. I really wanted to stay in that role and I really wanted to stay involved in that world and I can’t control whether people see it or how it went. I would have liked to do more of it – it just obviously didn’t turn out that way."

Episodes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cult (Tv Series) 2010s American drama television series 2010s American horror television series 2010s American mystery television series 2013 American television series debuts 2013 American television series endings American thriller television series Television series about cults The CW television dramas American English-language television shows Fictional cults Horror drama television series Psychological thriller television series Television series about actors Television series about television Television series by CBS Studios Television series by Warner Bros. Television Studios Television shows filmed in Vancouver Television shows set in Los Angeles