HBO has announced Lovecraft Country: Sanctum, a new series of virtual reality events aimed at transporting guests into a world inspired by the show. In a first-of-its-kind social VR event series, 100 influential voices will experience three events consisting of immersive theater, escape rooms, art installations, puzzles and a live concert, via the Oculus Quest headset, all inspired by Lovecraft Country. The events will be simultaneously run on the social VR platform VRChat, which allows guests to talk and interact with each other in real time within the environment, and streamed to the world via YouTube Live and interacting in real time.
Viewers on the YouTube Live stream will be able to interact in real-time, solving riddles to trigger spells that directly impact the experience. Sanctum was developed in partnership with HBO by creative production partner and experience studio The Mill, whose team of artists, coders and strategists developed the experience during global lockdown.
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Guests will experience voiceover performances by series’ Jonathan Majors, Courtney B. Vance and Michael Kenneth Williams; afrofuturist art installations by David Alabo, Devan Shimoyama and Adeyemi Adegbesan; a theatrical performance inspired by the words of James Baldwin, adapted by Lovecraft Country writer Shannon Houston, and performed by star Jurnee Smollett; and an exclusive VR concert given by a soon to be announced artist. It’s the latest attempt to make unique experiences for fans during social distancing, with similar events like script readings, virtual conventions, and the Tenet trailer that dropped on Fortnite.
Lovecraft Country stars Jonathan Majors, Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Courtney B. Vance, and Michael Kenneth Williams. The series arrives on HBO this August, though the exact date has yet to be announced.
Misha Green serves as the showrunner for Lovecraft Country, in addition to the responsibilities as one of the executive producers. Peele and Abrams also executive produce, alongside Bill Carraro, Yann Demange, Daniel Sackheim, and David Knoller. Demange and Sackheim also directed episodes of the series.
You can read the official synopsis for HBO’s Lovecraft Country below.
“The series follows Atticus Freeman (Jonathan Majors) as he joins up with his friend Letitia (Jurnee Smollett-Bell) and his Uncle George (Courtney B. Vance) to embark on a road trip across 1950s Jim Crow America in search of his missing father (Michael Kenneth Williams). This begins a struggle to survive and overcome both the racist terrors of white America and the terrifying monsters that could be ripped from a Lovecraft paperback.”
Lovecraft Country airs Sundays at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on HBO and is available to stream on HBO Max.
