AMC officially confirmed its first anthology series The Terror for a 10-episode season 2 back in June 2018.
The 10-episode inaugural season of The Terror told a terrifying story inspired by Captain John Franklin’s ill-fated mid-1840s voyage to the Arctic to explore the Northwest Passage.
Monsters & Critics named it one of the Top 30 TV shows of 2018.
After The Terror season 1 ended in the death of most of the characters on board the ill-fate ships HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, fans began asking whether The Terror would return for season 2.
The producers have since clarified that The Terror is envisioned as a fictional-horror anthology and that it is returning for season 2 with new showrunners, an entirely new setting, and a different bone-chilling horror story.
AMC’s decision to make The Terror an anthology series acknowledges the growing popularity of the genre following the success of anthology series such as HBO’s True Detective, FX’s American Horror Story and Fargo.
In season 2, The Terror will move from the Victorian era to the World War II era.
Once again, the series will overlay actual historical events with a fictional horror story about a specter that haunts the community and was responsible for a series of unexplained deaths.
To answer your questions about the upcoming season, we have compiled everything we know so far about The Terror season 2, including the expected release date, cast, teasers, trailers and plot.
We will also be updating this page with the latest news and information about The Terror season 2 as we learn about them.
The Terror season 2 release date
Although AMC has confirmed that The Terror season 2 will premiere in 2019, the network has not yet released an official premiere date for the upcoming season.
The Terror season 1 premiered on March 25, 2018, so fans are speculating that if season 2 follows the season 1 schedule, Terror season 2 could premiere in March 2019.
Filming of the upcoming series started in January, and while a late March premiere date remains feasible, fans may have to wait until summer for The Terror season 2 to start.
The Terror season 2 details
AMC announced the renewal of The Terror for season 2 in June 2018 and confirmed that the new 10-episode season will premiere in 2019.
The Terror season 1 was based on a 2007 novel by Dan Simmons. Simmons’ novel was in turn inspired by the ill-fated expedition led by the Royal Navy Officer Captain John Franklin that departed England in 1845 aboard HMS Erebus and HMS Terror to explore the Northwest Passage.
Viewers watched with growing apprehension as the search for the Northwest Passage by the crew of HMS Erebus and HMS Terror escalated into a story of fear, despair, starvation, mutiny
After the ships became trapped in ice near the Arctic, a demonic creature terrorized the hapless crew.
The Terror season 1 averaged a 0.36 rating in the 18-49 demographic and drew 1.22 million (14) viewers (Live+SameDay).
On June 22, 2018, AMC announced the renewal of the series for a 10-episode season 2.
The Terror season 2 is set in the West Coast of the U.S. during World War II, and will focus on a specter that haunts the Japanese American community in Southern California, the internment camps, and later in the Pacific theater of war.
“We are thrilled to announce a second season and dramatize one of the most chilling and important events of the 20th Century, guided by the vision of the gifted Alexander Woo and Max Borenstein,” David Madden, AMC’s president of original programming said in a statement released on June 22, 2018.
The Terror season 1 was written by David Kajganich. Kajganich and Soo Hugh served as co-showrunners.
Ridley Scott, Scott Lambert, Alexandra Milchan, Guymon Casady, and David W. Zucker co-executive produced the first season which starred
AMC introduced a new cast and creative team for the second season. The Terror season 2 is co-created by Alexander Woo and Max Borenstein. Woo is serving as showrunner. He is also co-executive producing with Borenstein and Ridley Scott.
“This season of The Terror uses as its setting one of the darkest [and] most horrific moments in our nation’s history. The Japanese-American internment is a blemish on the nation’s conscience,” Borenstein said. “I’m thrilled that AMC is giving us the chance to use that darkness as the inspiration for what I hope will be a trenchant, terrifying season of TV.”
“I’m deeply honored to be telling a story set in this extraordinary period,” Woo said. “We hope to convey the abject terror of the historical experience in a way that feels modern and relevant to the present moment.”
Woo served as a writer and executive producer on HBO’s True Blood (TV series 2008-2014). He was also part of the creative team for Showtime’s short-lived Sleeper Cell (TV series 2005-2006).
Borenstein has worked on several Warner Bros. projects, including Godzilla (2014) and Kong: Skull Island (2017).
The idea for season 2 was reportedly Borenstein’s.
Executive producers for The Terror season 2 include Dan Simmons, David W. Zucker, Alexandra Milchan, Scott Lambert and Guymon Casady.
The production companies behind The Terror season 2 include Ridley Scott’s Scott Free, Emjag Productions and Entertainment 360, in colloboration with AMC Studios production.
AMC Studios and Amazon Prime will distribute the series in the U.S. and the rest of the world. Production of The Terror season 2 began in January in Vancouver. Josef Kubota Wladyka, known for his work on Narcos (TV series 2015-2017), Fear the Walking Dead (TV series 2015-) and Outcast (TV series 2016-), directed the first two episodes of the upcoming season.
Star Trek’s George Takei (USS Enterprise’s Hikaru Sulu) is serving as series consultant as well as a member of the series’ main cast.
The Terror season 2 trailer
AMC has not yet released a trailer for The Terror season 2. Based on the fact that the network gave fans a first look at season 1 in December 2017 and released the first full trailer in January 2018 — ahead of the March 2018 premiere of season 1 — fans expected that the first teaser or official trailer for The Terror season 2 would be released in December 2018 or January 2019.
However, fans were disappointed when AMC failed to drop a teaser or a full trailer for the upcoming season in December 2018 and January 2019.
If, as widely speculated, AMC plans to release The Terror season 2 in March, then the first look trailer should only be weeks away. But the apparent delay in releasing a trailer ahead of the anticipated March premier date has given some fans reason to speculate that The Terror season 2 premiere date could be delayed until summer.
We will update this page as soon as AMC drops the first teaser or official trailer for The Terror season 2.
The Terror season 2 cast
Even before AMC made any cast announcements, fans had realized that The Terror season 2 will have a “majority Asian and Asian American cast” because the plot
A “majority Asian and Asian American cast” for The Terror season 2 was understood to mean that most of the main cast of The Terror season 1 would not return and that we would have an entirely new cast for season 2.
Despite the clear indication that season 2 would introduce an entirely new cast, some fans still continued hoping their favorite Season 1 stars, such as Jared Harris, Ciarán Hinds, Jared Harris, and Adam Nagaitis, would return to play minor or cameo roles in season 2.
The lingering hopes were dashed when AMC made the first major casting announcements for season 2 in December 2018.
The main cast for Terror season 2 confirmed so far includes Derek Mio (Hawaii Five-0, Greek, The Emoji Movie) in the leading role of Chester Nakayama.
Mio is a fourth generation Japanese-American. His grandfather was one of the Japanese-Americans sent to the infamous Manzanar internment camp after the Pearl Harbor incident.
Mio’s character, Chester, is also a young Japanese-American, a son of Japanese immigrants, who fulfills his dream of joining the U.S. Army during World War II and becomes a war hero.
After members of a Japanese American community experience a series of mysterious deaths, Chester finds himself fighting an evil force responsible for the strange deaths.
Other members of the main cast include Kiki Sukezane (Lost in Space, Heroes Reborn) as Chester’s mysterious ex-girlfriend Yuko, Miki Ishikawa (Zoey 101, Yours Mine and Ours, 9-1-1) as Amy, Shingo Usami (Riceballs, The Wolverine, Unbroken) as Chester’s father Henry Nakayama, and Naoko Mori (Torchwood, Absolutely Famous, Lennon Naked, Everest) as Chester’s mother Asaka Nakayama.
AMC also announced in December 2018 that Star Trek legend George Takei had joined the cast of The Terror season 2.
Takei will play Yamato-san, a community elder and former fishing boat captain. AMC also confirmed that Takei would be in a consulting role.
Takei’s consulting role would probably be in relation to his personal childhood experience of living in a Japanese-American internment camp during World War II.
Part of The Terror season 2 story will take place in a Japanese-American internment camp.
AMC also announced in December 2018 that Cristina Rodlo had joined the cast of Terror season 2. Rodlo will play a nursing student named Luz. She is also set to appear in Nicolas Winding Refn’s Too Old to Die Young.
Deadline reported on January 2019 that Christopher Naoki Lee had joined the cast of the series for a recurring role.
In January 2019, Yuki Morita (Godzilla) joined the cast of Terror season 2 for an undisclosed role.
The Terror season 2 plot
The Terror season 2 is set in the World War II period and follows a Japanese-American family and community in Southern California plagued by a series of bizarre deaths.
According to the official synopsis, the unexplained deaths were caused by an “uncanny specter” which terrorizes the community in Southern California and follows them to the internment camps, and finally to the Pacific theater of war.
The plot follows Chester Nakayama, a young member of the community, who fulfills his dreams of joining the U.S. Armed Forces. The story will follow the young man as he tries to identify, understand and fight the malevolent entity responsible for the unexplained deaths in his community.
It is also a coming of age story that tracks young Chester’s transformation from an inexperienced and naive youth to a war hero.