The Terror is an American supernatural horror drama anthology television series developed for AMC. Each season is a stand-alone story with a different cast and mostly different crew, each set during a unique historical backdrop also featuring supernatural elements. It premiered on March 25, 2018; after a hiatus following the second season released in 2019, the show was revived in 2024 for a third season that premiered on May 7, 2026, on AMC+ and Shudder and on AMC later in the year.
The first season was developed by David Kajganich who served as co-showrunner alongside Soo Hugh, and is named after Dan Simmons's 2007 novel The Terror which serves as the basis for the story, a fictionalized account of the real lost expedition of Captain Sir John Franklin to the Arctic from 1845 to 1848. The second season, subtitled Infamy, was co-created by Alexander Woo and Max Borenstein and is set in an American internment camp for Japanese Americans during World War II. The third season, subtitled Devil in Silver, was created by Victor LaValle and based on his 2012 novel of the same name.
Contents
Premise
The Terror
The first season begins with the Royal Navy's polar explorer ships HMS Erebus and HMS Terror having recently left Beechey Island in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, heading south toward King William Island into uncharted territory, seeking to find and confirm the existence and navigability of the fabled Northwest Passage. The ships are soon frozen and trapped in the ice, and those aboard must survive the harsh weather conditions and each other, while being stalked by an elusive menace.
The Terror: Infamy
The second season takes place on the west coast of the United States during World War II and centers on the Japanese folklore of bakemono, which harasses a Japanese American community in Southern California.
The Terror: Devil in Silver
The third season follows Pepper, a man who is wrongfully committed to psychiatric hospital, where he must deal with adversarial patients and doctors, as well as the supernatural.
Cast and characters
Season 1
Jared Harris as Captain Francis Crozier, Commanding Officer, HMS Terror, and expedition second-in-command
Tobias Menzies as Commander James Fitzjames, First Officer, HMS Erebus
Paul Ready as Assistant Surgeon Harry Goodsir, HMS Erebus
Adam Nagaitis as Caulker's Mate Cornelius Hickey, HMS Terror
Ian Hart as Ice Master Thomas Blanky, HMS Terror
Nive Nielsen as Lady Silence, a Netsilik woman
Ciarán Hinds as Captain Sir John Franklin, Commanding Officer, HMS Erebus, and expedition leader
Season 2
Derek Mio as Chester Nakayama (born Taizo Tanabe), an American-born (Nisei) photographer
Kiki Sukezane as Yuko Tanabe
Cristina Rodlo as Luz Ojeda, Chester's Mexican college friend
Shingo Usami as Henry Nakayama, a fisher and Chester's father emigrated from Japan (Issei)
Naoko Mori as Asako Nakayama, Chester's mother
Miki Ishikawa as Amy Yoshida, the Nakayama's family friend
George Takei as Nobuhiro Yamato, community elder and former fisher captain
Season 3
Dan Stevens as Peter "Pepper" Coffin, a working-class "moving man" wrongfully committed to the New Hyde Psychiatric Hospital
Michael Aronov as "Huey", one of three plainclothes police officers who arrest Pepper and whom he nicknames "Huey, Dewey, and Louie"
b as Loochie, a young resident in the New Hyde Psychiatric Hospital
Philip Ettinger as "Louie", one of three plainclothes police officers who arrest Pepper and whom he nicknames "Huey, Dewey, and Louie"
Hampton Fluker as Scotch Tape, a nurse at the New Hyde Psychiatric Hospital
John Benjamin Hickey as:
Dr. Walter, the founder of the New Hyde Psychiatric Hospital
The "Devil" / the "Duppy", a mysterious, malevolent entity haunting the hospital's residents
Marin Ireland as "Dewey", one of three plainclothes police officers who arrest Pepper and whom he nicknames "Huey, Dewey, and Louie"
Judith Light as Dorry, a longtime resident at the New Hyde Psychiatric Hospital
Kennedy McMann as young Dorry
Aasif Mandvi as Dr. Anand, a doctor and facility manager of the New Hyde Psychiatric Hospital
CCH Pounder as Miss Chris, a nurse and administrator of the New Hyde Psychiatric Hospital
Stephen Root as Dr. Laurence Badger, a doctor at the New Hyde Psychiatric Hospital who leads a book club
Episodes
Production
Season 1
After the success of the show The Walking Dead, the American cable TV network AMC planned to create a horror TV series based on the novel The Terror. In March 2016, it was confirmed that AMC ordered 10 episodes of the show, with an expected premiere date in 2018.
David Kajganich and Soo Hugh serve as co-showrunners, while Kajganich penned the adaptation. Ridley Scott, Alexandra Milchan, Scott Lambert, David W. Zucker, and Guymon Casady are executive producers. In September 2016, it was announced that Tobias Menzies was cast as a series lead and the showrunners were seeking an Inuk woman, between the ages of 16 and 30, to play an unspecified 'major character', most likely Lady Silence.
Most of the scenes on the ice were created using CGI.
Season 2
The second season, titled The Terror: Infamy, and consisting of 10 episodes, is co-created by Max Borenstein and Alexander Woo, who also serves as the showrunner.
Derek Mio plays the lead role of Chester Nakayama, a son of Japanese born immigrants who joins the army. George Takei plays Yamato-san, a former fishing captain and community elder who was imprisoned with his family in two Japanese-American internment camps during WWII. Also cast are Kiki Sukezane as Yuko, a mysterious woman from Chester's past; Shingo Usami as Henry Nakayama, Chester's father; and Naoko Mori as Asako Nakayama, Chester's mother; and Miki Ishikawa as Amy, a Nakayama family friend. Takei also serves in a consulting role to ensure the accuracy of historical events and storytelling. C. Thomas Howell was cast as Retired Major Hallowell Bowen, an official with the War Relocation Authority whose "presence looms over the Japanese-American characters in the story."
Josef Kubota Wladyka directed the first two episodes of the season. Production began on January 14, 2019, in Vancouver.
Season 3
In January 2020, it was reported by Deadline Hollywood that AMC president Sarah Barnett had expressed interest in renewing The Terror for a third season and that AMC and Scott Free Productions were discussing plot ideas. In February 2024, AMC announced that the series would be renewed for a third season, subtitled Devil in Silver, consisting of six episodes that would premiere in 2025. The season is based on the novel of the same name by Victor LaValle. Chris Cantwell and LaValle serve as writers and executive producers. Karyn Kusama, also an executive producer, directed the first two episodes. Dan Stevens was cast in the lead role and also serves as an executive producer. The rest of the cast includes Judith Light, CCH Pounder, Chinaza Uche, Hampton Fluker, Aasif Mandvi, John Benjamin Hickey, Stephen Root, Hayward Leach, Michael Aronov, Marin Ireland, and Philip Ettinger.
Release
The first season premiered on AMC in the United States and Canada on March 25, 2018, and concluded on May 21, 2018. It was released worldwide on Amazon Prime Video in every other country where the service is present (except Canada, the UK and some Middle Eastern countries) starting March 26, 2018. Amazon released most of the first season ahead of its broadcast on AMC. In the United Kingdom, The Terror premiered on AMC on April 24, 2018, and BBC Two on March 3, 2021.
Reception
Critical response
The first season received positive reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the season has a 94% rating based on 69 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads: "A thriller wrapped in a prestige drama package, The Terror makes for gripping, atmospheric supernatural horror." On Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, the season has a score of 76 out of 100, based on 20 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
The second season also received positive reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the season has an 80% rating based on 46 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads: "Real-world and supernatural horrors collide in Infamy, an exceptionally well-crafted ghost story that creeps under the skin and stays there." On Metacritic, the season has a score of 75 out of 100, based on 17 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
The third season received generally positive reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the season has a 95% rating based on 21 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads: "Dan Stevens and a game supporting cast deliver well-rounded performances with nuance and verve in this latest installment of The Terror, which humanely depicts its subject's troubles with mental health and supernatural frights." On Metacritic, the season has a score of 71 out of 100, based on 11 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".