One of the more ambitious, unsettling, and underseen horror TV series of the past decade is SYFY’s Channel Zero, which was created by Nick Antosca. When the series was announced, it was confirmed to be getting four seasons, with the network failing to pick up the project for more seasons, yet Antosca would still love to revive the project in some capacity. However, the anthology nature of the premise and the unique opportunities he’s had to tell genre stories in other long-form projects means that he thinks the spirit of the series will live on in other narratives he tells, even if they aren’t properly under the Channel Zero umbrella. Antosca’s latest series, A Friend of the Family, premieres on Peacock on Thursday, October 6th.
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“I would love to do more seasons of Channel Zero and some of the other horror series that I’ve done,” Antosca shared with ComicBook.com of the series’ future. “Brand New Cherry Flavor had some of the same spirit and the same energy. I don’t know if there will ever be another season of Channel Zero. I would certainly do one, but even if we don’t literally do that, there will be more opportunities to tell that horror story down the road.”
The series itself was inspired by various “creepypasta” stories found on the Internet, with these narratives often including heavy embraces of surrealism along with traditional horrors, making them much more inventive and arguably more disturbing than other horror content out there. With each season focusing on a new story, it allowed various filmmakers to deliver a variety of terror, exploring serial killers, cannibals, and alternate dimensions.
Antosca’s new series dramatizes a true-life series of kidnappings, with its horrors being unsettling in an entirely different way from Channel Zero.
A Friend of the Family is based on the harrowing true story of the Broberg family, whose daughter Jan was kidnapped multiple times over a period of a few years by a charismatic, obsessed family “friend.” The Brobergs — devoted to their faith, family, and community — were utterly unprepared for the sophisticated tactics their neighbor used to exploit their vulnerabilities, drive them apart, and turn their daughter against them. This is the story of how their lives were permanently altered — and how they survived.
A Friend of the Family premieres on Peacock on October 6th. Stay tuned for a possible future for Channel Zero.
Would you like to get more seasons of the series? Let us know in the comments or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!
