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Teacup Stars Explain What Drew Them to the Series – Spoiler: It Wasn't the Horror
The stars of Peacock's original sci-fi horror series Teacup know exactly what attracted them.
Any television show is only as good as the people making it. That's very much the case, as well, for Peacock's upcoming series Teacup, from creator/showrunner Ian McCulloch. Earlier this year, when SYFY WIRE attended a set visit alongside other reporters in Atlanta, Georgia, the production team was deep in the middle of filming. McCulloch had endless praise for his cast, but the cast handed credit right back tenfold.
While Teacup comes from acclaimed executive producer James Wan and his Atomic Monster group, it seems McCulloch's involvement in the series is the main reason the three stars — Yvonne Strahovski, Scott Speedman, and Chaske Spencer — came onboard in the first place.
Teacup's stars praise series creator and showrunner Ian McCulloch
Teacup's premise is mostly shrouded in mystery, which is very much by design. The mystery and how McCulloch pitched the show in the first place was what brought Spencer (Blindspot, The Twilight Saga) on board.
"Ian ... pitched it where this is a story about – on the surface ... it’s a sci-fi/horror, but what’s underneath is a human drama," he said. "And that’s where everything comes out. And it’s been my experience filming that that’s exactly how it’s going. And I love that because you just get thrown right into it. The characters are introduced but then boom, in an episode you find out all the stuff."
His co-star Strahovski (Dexter, The Handmaid's Tale) agreed: despite how great the story is, working with McCulloch was too good an opportunity to pass up.
"I heard about the project and then I met with Ian first after reading like three episodes or something. And I got on the phone with Ian and, honestly, I really liked Ian," she explained, laughing. "I’m here I think probably because of Ian. I thought he was super awesome on the Zoom and super smart and he just had a vision for this show that was really smart and classy and really grounded and I mean pretty much if this was just a genre piece, I probably wouldn’t be here.
"But because it has this component that is really grounded in this emotional family storyline, as well, which I really fell in love with and the way that Ian spoke about it, that’s what kind of got my attention and here we are," she added.
Teacup marks Strahovski and Spencer's first times working with McCulloch, but Speedman (Gray's Anatomy, The Strangers) and the showrunner go way back.
"It’s Ian really to be honest with you," Speedman said of what brought him on board. "I’ve known of Ian McCulloch’s work for a while. I read an unproduced TV show he ... was putting out there like five, six, seven years ago ... It was one of those scripts that was going around, all the agents were excited about it, I read it and fell in love with his style of writing. It’s a very unique thing."
That project didn't work out, and neither did an unmade movie they'd worked on together. But finally, with Teacup, the stars aligned.
Teacup, the "sci-fi Western": Making a genre series for the first time
"I heard some of the elements of it, the genre elements of it, and it wasn’t quite exactly Ian's kind of thing, [and] that really got me excited," Speedman explained. "Because I thought his version of this, a sort of sci-fi Western, really, was how I kind of looked at it. That got me really excited. Then when you start to read it, it’s this really unique blend of family drama — which he does really well — and then you add the well-executed genre elements and I think you do have something here.
"And I rarely feel that or say that," he added, laughing. "So I’m excited about it. It’s probably the TV show I’m most excited about in a long, long time... He’s done an amazing job. He’s very patient."
RELATED: The Cast & Characters of Peacock's Horror Series Teacup: Everything to Know
Teacup is McCulloch's first time in the driver's seat of a series. He's previously worked as a Consulting Producer on Chicago Fire, Yellowstone, and Deputy, driving home the Western vibes Speedman mentioned. Teacup may be a divergence, but it's not totally out of left field for the creator/producer.
"There are these moments of quiet. You get to catch your breath and see how these characters interact with one another," McCulloch said in the official production notes. "It was never meant to be a simple run-and-hide thriller. We want the audience to really care about these characters."
The first two episodes of Teacup are scheduled to make their debut on Peacock on Thursday, October 10. Two additional episodes will drop every week through Halloween.
