HERE’S WHAT HAPPENED

When the Are You Afraid of the Dark? remake mini-series was officially turned into a regular series with a second season announced (subtitled Curse of the Shadows), Nickelodeon tapped Jeff Wadlow to serve as Executive Producer and primary director. Jeff is known for writing/directing Cry Wolf, Kick-Ass 2, and Blumhouse’s Truth or Dare and Fantasy Island. On the small screen, he’s produced Bates Motel and The Strain.

Erin chatted with Jeff last week, and here’s what he had to say about Curse of the Shadows.

THE INTERVIEW

Hi Jeff! So, I’ve seen the trailer, which looks great; obviously there's some call backs there to the original series. Were you a fan?

I was! Though, I wasn't a super fan. I was in high school in the nineties, so I wasn't watching a ton of Nick at the time, but I do remember checking out a few episodes and being shocked by how genuinely terrifying the show was. It was a lot of fun. It seemed to be sort of a riff on the Twilight Zone and I was definitely a fan.

Do you have a favorite episode?

I mean, who doesn't love the Ghastly Grinner?

Such a good one!

I know, right? It's all fun and we definitely try to reference as many of the classic episodes as possible in our shows.

I was going to ask about references.

Yeah, it eclipses my knowledge of the original show; the writer - JT Billings - is just a great young writer. I think this is the first thing he's ever had produced. He’s sold a lot of stuff. He wrote all six episodes and he studied the show like a Talmudic scholar and he knew it inside and out. He would drop all these Easter eggs in the script and I made sure to photograph them and honor them for the super fans.

That’s something to look forward to. Is there a member of the new Midnight Society who you identify with most?

I mean, that's a tough question because I love them all. Such a fantastic cast. Part of my pitch for the show was that some of my favorite movies are Goonies and Stand by Me, and I really love Stranger Things. And so I said to the network this is my chance to tell a story like that, that and has an incredible ensemble of kids. Hopefully, the audience will love every one of them as much as the crew did and as much as I enjoyed working with them.

It looks like from the trailer that you have a pretty diverse cast. Was that a conscious goal?

Honestly, it's something that I'm very passionate about with all my projects. I want everything I'm working on to reflect the world that we live in. I think it's really important for people to see themselves in different characters, and so I always want to have a diverse cast. And I want to speak to a diverse experience because that is the experience we're all living.

Can you tell me if there is any explicit queer representation in the new series?

Ultimately, because this is a show that's meant for families, sexuality and sexual orientation isn't something we really chose to tackle. This is a little bit more of the kind of story that you would tell around the campfire like the original show. So we're not quite delving into that kind of coming of age story when you start to figure out exactly who you are from an orientation standpoint. I certainly have my theories about different characters and I'm sure I could share them after the fact once the show has aired, but it's not something that we really get into in the show.

I mean, in the original series, there's no explicit queer representation, but there are a lot of characters who are queer coded, which is one of the things we discuss frequently.

There's a big difference between a lack of representation and...let me think about this for a sec so I’m putting it properly...what I'm trying to say is there is no omission. We’re not saying, “All of our characters are straight.” It's just something that we're not getting into.

That's probably pretty standard for children's television or television for tweens at this point, for better or for worse, so that makes sense. Jumping off of that, it looks like the cast of this one was maybe slightly younger than “Carnival of Doom.” Is that accurate?

Yes, much to my chagrin, because it really limited shooting hours. Those pesky child labor laws, you know, that you can't work kids as hard as you work adults. We obviously stuck to them; that's super important for my casts to feel safe, and I always want to follow the rules, because that is the most important thing. But, yeah, having a young cast presented its own set of challenges and also a particular set of positive elements as well because they showed up super prepared. They were way more prepared than any cast I've ever worked with before.

Not only do they know all their lines, they knew everyone else's lines in the scene, and they knew their lines for the scenes we’d be shooting the next day in case I wanted to jump ahead. But, yes, it was a very young cast, I think ranging from eleven to fifteen.

With a young cast, was that done intentionally to potentially carry them forward into another season?

Less about carrying them forward and more about just having an authentic show about kids. It's always a little weird when you see a twenty-two-year-old playing a sixteen-year-old.

Oh yeah, we have many thoughts about teenagers being played by twenty-somethings, which was very popular in the nineties.

Yeah, it takes you out of the story so we just wanted an authentic cast.

Much of the original series is about the art of storytelling. What are your thoughts on how the art of storytelling factors into this new series?

As a filmmaker, I always love blurring the lines between storyteller and storytelling. I like to have characters within my stories who are relating stories to other characters, and you start to question the reality of the story that's being told. You can start to play with subjectivity in a way that makes it a real active experience for the audience. You're not just saying, “Oh, this happened with some cameras over there and we filmed it.” It's more about we're telling you a story about a character telling a story – who’s to say if the story that's being told right now is accurate? Maybe some of the choices I'm making visually are conveying the storyteller’s point of view as opposed to conveying the reality of what transpired. I love playing that game with the audience, so when I had a chance to work on this show which is ultimately about kids who tell scary stories and then, in the reboot, the story starts to come true, it allowed me to kind of tap into these ideas that I enjoy exploring.

Interesting. We know from the trailer that Sardo is back, played by a new actor. Are there any other call backs to characters from the original series or actors who reappear?

The fact is, Sardo is clearly the most significant. He is a big, big, big part of the show.

That's good to know.

Yeah, he is a significant character. There are a ton of Easter eggs and there are some small ones that you might only catch upon second or third viewing. There are some other big ones, and I'm not going to spoil them by telling you them ahead of time.

Okay, fair enough.

There's one in particular- a huge one in the last episode—and I'm not going to give you any more than that, but fans of the original show are going to lose their minds.

You’ve now successfully enticed me and hopefully also our readers! Is there anything else you want GaylyDreadful readers to know about the new series?

Yeah. We didn't make a kids’ show. This is a show for everyone. Richard Donner is my hero; I've tried to pattern my career after his and he worked in all different genres and one of my favorite movies he made was Goonies, and so I really view this as my chance to do my Goonies. So it's for everyone, it's not just for kids.

That's really great. I like that attitude towards branching out. We sort of see you as the Ron Oliver of the new series--someone who was well-versed in adult horror who was tapped to give this some legs, if that makes any sense.

Yeah, that makes perfect sense. It's high praise, and I hope I live up to that.

They’re big shoes to fill but I’m rooting for you. Thank you so much for doing this!

Thank you. I appreciate it.

OUR REACTION

E: This was so much fun and I’m more excited than ever about Curse of the Shadows. Should I create a spreadsheet now to track all the Easter eggs?

T: Um, pretty sure since you know me, you know how much I love spreadsheets. Do it! I’m really excited to hear about the thoughtfulness behind the project, and that while we’re not going to be having a member of the Midnight Society wearing a rainbow flag pin, we’re going to potentially have fleshed out characters who have lives outside of what we see.

Are You Afraid of the Dark?: Curse of the Shadows premieres on Nickelodeon Friday, February 12th at 8:00 PM EST and runs for six weeks.