''Hysteria!'' is an American

comedy horror Comedy horror (also called horror comedy) is a literary, television and film genre that combines elements of comedy and horror fiction. Comedy horror has been described as having three types: "black comedy, parody and spoof." Comedy horror can a ...

- thriller television series created by Matthew Scott Kane for

Peacock Peafowl is a common name for two bird species of the genus '' Pavo'' and one species of the closely related genus '' Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae (the pheasants and their allies). Male peafowl are referred t ...

. All eight episodes of the series were released on October 18, 2024. On February 4, 2025, the series was canceled after one season.

Premise

In 1989 during the

Satanic panic The Satanic panic is a moral panic consisting of over 12,000 unsubstantiated cases of Satanic ritual abuse (SRA, sometimes known as ritual abuse, ritualistic abuse, organized abuse, or sadistic ritual abuse) starting in North America in the 19 ...

, a beloved varsity quarterback's disappearance causes whispers of occult activity and Satanic influence throughout the

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

suburb of Happy Hollow,

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

. Dylan, Jordy and Spud, a trio of outcasts in a struggling heavy metal band called Dethkrunch, decide to capitalize on the town’s sudden interest in the occult by rebranding themselves as a Satanic metal band. This leads to them becoming the targets of the town's witch hunt, especially when a bizarre series of murders, kidnappings and reported supernatural activity begin happening.

Cast and characters

Main

Emjay Anthony Emjay Anthony Salazar (born June 1, 2003) is an American actor and model. His major films include '' It's Complicated'', ''Chef'', ''Krampus'', ''Replicas'', and ''Bad Moms''. Biography Emjay Anthony Salazar was born on June 1, 2003, in Clea ...

as Dylan Campbell *

Chiara Aurelia Chiara Aurelia de Braconier d'Alphena (born September 13, 2002) is an American actress. She began her career as a child actress in the films ''Gerald's Game'' (2017) and '' Back Roads'' (2018). She starred as Jeanette Turner in the Freeform tee ...

as Jordan "Jordy" Stanwyck * Kezii Curtis as Spud *

Nikki Hahn Sofia Nicole Hahn (born November 13, 2002) is an American actress. She is known for her role as Emily Cooper in '' Adventures in Babysitting'', among other television roles. Life and career Hahn began her career as a child model at the age of 3 ...

as Faith Whitehead *

Bruce Campbell Bruce Lorne Campbell (born June 22, 1958) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is known best for his role as Ash Williams in Sam Raimi's ''Evil Dead'' horror series, beginning with the short movie '' Within the Woods'' (1978). He has also f ...

as Ben Dandridge *

Anna Camp Anna Ragsdale Camp (born September 27, 1982) is an American actress. She portrayed the villainous Sarah Newlin in the HBO vampire drama ''True Blood'' (2009, 2013–2014), Aubrey Posen in the ''Pitch Perfect'' film series (2012–2017), and t ...

as Tracy Whitehead *

Julie Bowen Julie Bowen (born Julie Bowen Luetkemeyer; March 3, 1970) is an American actress. She starred as Claire Dunphy in the ABC sitcom '' Modern Family'' (2009–2020), for which she received widespread critical acclaim. She won the Primetime Emmy A ...

as Linda Campbell

Recurring

* Jessica Treska as Judith *

Nolan North Nolan North (born October 31, 1970) is an American actor best known for his voice acting roles. After his breakthrough role as Dr. Chris Ramsey on the ABC soap opera '' Port Charles'' in 1997, North moved into voice acting when the show ended ...

as Gene Campbell * Elijah Richardson as Cliff *

Brandon Butler Brandon Butler (born September 11, 1996) is an American actor. He is known for portraying Scott Reed in the Netflix series ''13 Reasons Why'' and Brady Finch in the Netflix series ''Trinkets (TV series), Trinkets''. Life and career Butler was ...

as Ryan Hudson *

Garret Dillahunt Garret Lee Dillahunt (born November 24, 1964) is an American actor. He is best known for his work in television, including the roles Burt Chance on the Fox sitcom '' Raising Hope'', for which he was nominated for the Critics' Choice Television ...

as The Reverend (Beaumont Hicks) *

Milly Shapiro Milly Shapiro is an American actress and singer. She won an honorary Tony Award in 2013 for her work in the Broadway production of Matilda the Musical. She starred in the 2018 horror film ''Hereditary''. In 2021, Shapiro and Spencer Arjang co-cr ...

as Ingrid *

Allison Scagliotti Allison Scagliotti (; born September 21, 1990) is an American actress, musician and director. Her television roles include appearing in ''Drake & Josh'', ''Warehouse 13'', and ''Stitchers''. She performs as a musician under the name La Femme Pend ...

as Officer Olsen * Jennie Page as Abigail Perkins * Jessica Luza as Cassie Dandridge

Episodes

Production

Development

In August 2022, it was announced

had given a straight-to-series order to ''Hysteria!'', a dramatic thriller set during the

of the 1980s from writer Matthew Scott Kane. Jonathan Goldstein and

John Francis Daley John Francis Daley (born July 20, 1985) is an American filmmaker and actor. He is best known for playing high school freshman Sam Weir on the NBC comedy-drama ''Freaks and Geeks'' and FBI criminal profiler Dr. Lance Sweets on the crime drama se ...

will direct and executive produce the series. Jordan Vogt-Roberts is set to direct the premiere episode while

David A. Goodman David Avram Goodman (born December 13, 1962) is an American television writer and producer. He has been a writer for numerous television series, such as ''Family Guy'', ''The Golden Girls'', ''Futurama'' (where he was also a co-executive producer ...

will serve as showrunner, writer and executive producer.

Casting

In April 2023, it was announced

had been cast as the lead, Linda Campbell, the mother of a teenage outcast. Later that month,

, Kezii Curtis,

and

had been added to the cast. In that same month, it was also reported that

had joined the cast as Chief Dandridge. In February 2024, it was reported that

, Elijah Richardson,

, and Jessica Treska had joined the cast as Gene, The Reverend, Cliff, Ingrid, Officer Olsen, and Judith, respectively.

Release

The first season consisting of eight episodes premiered on October 18, 2024 on

. The series premiere also aired on Syfy and

USA Network USA Network (or simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Media Group division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. It was launched in 1977 as Madison Square Garden Sports Network, one of the first national sports ...

the same day, with subsequent episodes continuing to air on USA Network every Friday thereafter.

Reception

Critical response

The

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

reported an 91% approval rating with an average rating of 7.0/10, based on 23 critic reviews. The website's consensus reads: "Freaky in both scares and style, ''Hysteria!'' will be a raucous good time for viewers who like their horror programming to have a sense of humor."

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 62 out of 100 based on 7 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

References

External links

* * {{Peacock (streaming service) 2020s American comedy-drama television series 2020s American horror comedy television series 2024 American television series debuts American English-language television shows American television series about teenagers Peacock (streaming service) original programming Satanic ritual abuse hysteria in the United States Television series by Universal Content Productions Television shows affected by the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike Television shows filmed in Atlanta