The Terror: Infamy screens premiere's first deadly minutes at San Diego Comic-Con

Not long has passed since the first season of The Terror brought AMC fans plenty of frigid fear in its historical fiction, but now the anthology series is bringing a new flavor to its horror. The Terror: Infamy, which augments the story of Japanese-American internment during WWII with supernatural elements, is taking things in a completely new direction in its first trailers and behind-the-scenes featurette. Now, we've gotten a much more intimate look at the show.

Infamy made its San Diego Comic-Con premiere, which involved a sneak peek at the new season - and SYFY WIRE was there to see it. The show screened a new preview featuring some gory arms and legs, a contortionist demon, and many, many omens affecting the camp. Including things like a whole building on fire and blood pouring out of eyes. It was nasty and awesome, showcasing the different environments that the show will take place in, like the camp, the jungle, the icy tundra, and more. However, the real star was the first few minutes of footage of the premiere, which was aired at the end of the panel. A stumbling, herky-jerky woman ends up doing something terrible and deadly to her ear canal. Let's just say that. This goes straight into the gorgeous opening credits and whet our appetite for horror.

Preceding this was a panel featuring stars Derek Mio, Kiki Sukezane, Cristina Rodlo, and George Takei alongside co-creators Max Borenstein and showrunner Alexander Woo. Borenstein explained that the initial idea came from Takei's biography, which went into detail about his childhood experience in a camp. This, combined with AMC's need for a horror-blended history tale, led to a middle-of-the-night lightning bolt for Borenstein. But Woo was the one that recruited Takei to the show as a consultant, which then led to Takei performing on the show. "That was bait," Takei said, in order to get him on screen. Jokes aside, however, Takei was thrilled with the representation of the series. "We have come so far," the actor said.

And it was a project close to everyone's hearts. Mio's grandfather grew up on the island where the show is initially set and he had plenty of relatives that ended up in the camps. This family connection was a driving force behind Mio's pursuit of the role. 138 relatives of cast and crew were interned, Woo said. VFX workers, costume workers, directors - everyone dropped their lives to come be a part of the show.

As far as the horror goes, Sukezane explained that her mysterious (aka supernatural) character was simply one giant spoiler, so really all she could talk about was the fashion she had to wear. Many, many kimonos. Hiding...something, that's for sure. Woo name-dropped The Grudge, The Ring, and Dark Water as inspirations, though they erred away from the "slice-and-dice" side of Japanese horror.

Fans will get to be spooked by all these familiar factors when The Terror: Infamy premieres on Aug. 12.

Click here for SYFY WIRE’s full coverage of San Diego Comic-Con 2019, including up-to-the-minute news, exclusive interviews, and videos.