The Midnight Society Unites in New Are You Afraid of the Dark? Reboot Photo
Nineties nostalgia is here in a big way, and Nickelodeon is bringing back Are You Afraid of the [...]
Telling terrifying tales since 1992 ? New Are You Afraid of the Dark is coming soon to Nickelodeon ? #onthisday pic.twitter.com/upcC6s77SI
— Nickelodeon (@Nickelodeon) August 15, 2019
Nineties nostalgia is here in a big way, and Nickelodeon is bringing back Are You Afraid of the Dark? as a part of their throwback effort. The midnight society is getting some new members and there are new photos of the entire crew. Comicbook.com has access to the panel announcements for the new cast. They're ready to keep a whole new generation of viewers up with scary tales around the campfire.
Short-form horror stories are nothing new for network TV, after all, Rod Sterling brought The Twilight Zone into the popular consciousness back in 1959. The original Nickelodeon show was a product of the 1990s and with that came the need to skirt around censors that might object to scary stories that would frighten young viewers too badly. Horror media has only gotten more popular in recent years, so a refresh makes all the sense in the world.
The new Midnight Society lineup consists of: Gavin, played by Sam Ashe Arnold (Best.Worst.Weekend.Ever.); Akiko, played by Miya Cech (Rim of the World, Always Be My Maybe); Louise, played by Tamara Smart (Artemis Fowl, The Worst Witch); Graham, played by Jeremy Taylor (IT, Goosebumps 2:Haunted Halloween); and Rachel, played by Lyliana Wray (Top Gun: Maverick, Black-ish). The Carnival of Doom's ringmaster, Mr. Tophat, is played by Rafael Casal (Blindspotting
The new Are You Afraid of the Dark?'s October premiere is fast approaching, and the series will take on a slightly different shape. This new Midnight Society will be telling stories centered around the Carnival of Doom, and then the stories will spring to life. Young viewers will be in for some moderate scares. It remains to be seen if the show will be expanded to a larger series if this one performs according to expectations.
ACE Entertainment (To All The Boys I've Loved Before, The Perfect Date) will be producing the series. ACE founder Matt Kaplan and Spencer Berman are aboard as executive producers on the project. BenDavid Grabinski (Skiptrace) is handling writing duties while Sean Israelite (Power Rangers, Project Almanac) will be in the director's chair. Both Grabinski and Israelite will help with executive producing alongside Kaplan and Spencer.
Nickelodeon's original iteration of Are You Afraid of the Dark? ran from 1992-2000. That series plowed new ground for children's entertainment as many kids' properties of the era shied away from horror content. (Goosebumps and Erie Indiana fans act like you didn't hear that.) A cornerstone of the SNICK lineup, Are You Afraid of the Dark? was targeted primarily to young audiences from a similar perspective to the kids watching. D.J. MacHale created the original series alongside Ned Kandel.
Stay tuned for details on the Are You Afraid of the Dark? miniseries before it debuts this October.
