Lovecraft Country is definitely one of those shows you have to rewatch over and over again to get the full scope of what exactly the team in the writers’ room were constructing piece-by-piece. Watching the series, it was readily apparent that every single choice was intentional, making the viewing experience as exploratory and adventurous as its main characters.
Now, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has announced it will be releasing the series on Blu-Ray and DVD, equipped with special bonus features.
General info on Lovecraft Country:
Lovecraft Country stars Jurnee Smollett (Birds of Prey, Underground), Jonathan Majors (Da 5 Bloods, The Last Black Man in San Francisco), Aunjanue Ellis (When They See Us), Wunmi Mosaku (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them), Abbey Lee (Mad Max: Fury Road), Jamie Chung (Once Upon a Time), Jada Harris (The Resident), and Michael K. Williams (HBO’s The Wire and Boardwalk Empire). Recurring guest stars include Courtney B. Vance (HBO’s The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, American Crime Story), Jamie Neumann (HBO’s The Deuce), Jordan Patrick Smith (Vikings) and Tony Goldwyn (Scandal).
The series is executive produced by Misha Green, J.J. Abrams, Jordan Peele, Bill Carraro, Yann Demange (who also directed the first episode), Daniel Sackheim (who also directed Episodes 2 and 3), David Knoller and Ben Stephenson. Based on the novel by Matt Ruff, the drama series is produced by afemme, Inc., Bad Robot Productions and Monkeypaw Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television.
In an exclusive sneak-peek of a bonus featurette from the Blu-Ray/DVD obtained by The Root, Green talks about the time she truly learned just how devoid genre pieces were of representation of people of color and how she made an intentional decision to narrow that void.
“This was an opportunity in Lovecraft Country to really bring people of color to the forefront of genre [pieces],” Green says in the clip. “To say that we love everything down to Harry Potter, to aliens, to scary movies, too!”
“It was nice to be able to tell a story in that space and that story to reflect more of the world other than just one corner, which is whiteness,” she added.
The clip features excerpts from Episode 7 of the first season titled “I Am,” featuring the voice of Diana “Dee” Freeman (Jada Harris) mentioning Orithyia Blue, as Hippolyta Freeman (Aunjanue Ellis) smiles at her daughter’s artwork during her solo road trip. The Root contributor and horror and fantasy scholar Kinitra D. Brooks beautifully assessed the deeper meaning of that as part of her “The Safe Negro Guide to Lovecraft Country” series:
“I am Hippolyta. George’s wife,” returns us to the bedroom where we first met the Freemans, in bed but with a deeper manifestation of intimacy than before. This is now the scene of a woman baring her soul, holding both herself and her husband accountable for their mutual diminishment of the beauty that is her. And he apologizes, “I am so sorry. I see now what that cost you.” He corrects his mistake. (This scene is also reminiscent of George’s scene with Montrose in the second episode where he is made aware of his willful ignorance to the destruction of someone he loves—that time at the hands of their father. I am beginning to wonder if George’s characterization as a flawed but loving man who is able to admit to and apologize for his faults is the construct of manhood Tic is meant to be aiming towards.)
Professor Robinson, who studies and believes in the power of the Black nuclear family (we fight over this all the time) has a powerful reading of this scene: “We don’t get to the future without each other.” Hippolyta offers George her hand when she declares…
“I am Hippolyta. Discoverer.” Hippolyta—and George, now her companion on her quest—becomes what her daughter, Dee, imagines her to be: Orithyia Blue, space adventurer. It is important that Hippolyta names herself a discoverer, as one who simply travels and observes the worlds she visits, wholly different than the explorers/colonizers of history, “Space is so often seen as a colonial project” declares Professor Morris. “When do black women go into space? And when are they not a tool of the colonizer? She represents herself.”
Soon enough, fans will get to revisit the series with additional insider perspective. In addition to all of the 10 episodes of the series debut season, the home release will include the following:
Bonus Material:
- Compendium of Horrors (NEW)
- Orithyia Blue and the Imagination of Diana Freeman (NEW)
- Crafting Lovecraft Country
- Exploring Lovecraft Country
- Lovecraft Country The Craft
Lovecraft Country will be available on Blu-Ray and DVD on Feb. 16. The series is currently available on digital and a digital copy will be included inside specially-marked Blu-Ray discs for the home release.