AMC’s set to premiere the thriller The Terror on Monday, March 26, 2018 at 9pm ET/PT. The series is based on the bestselling novel by Dan Simmons and explores the true events surrounding the British Royal Navy’s exploration of the Northwest Passage. The 10 episode drama, which is set in 1847 and was shot in Budapest, has David Kajganich (True Story, A Bigger Splash) and Soo Hugh (The Whispers, The Killing) as showrunners and executive producers.
Ridley Scott, David W. Zucker, Alexandra Milchan, Scott Lambert, Guymon Casady, and author Dan Simmons are also involved as executive producers.
The Terror stars Jared Harris (The Crown, Mad Men), Tobias Menzies (Outlander, Game of Thrones), Ciarán Hinds (Game of Thrones), Paul Ready (Cuffs), Adam Nagaitis (Suffragette), Nive Nielsen (The New World), Ian Hart (Neverland), and Trystan Gravelle (Mr. Selfridge).
The Plot: Inspired by a true story, The Terror centers on the British Royal Navy’s perilous voyage into unchartered territory as the crew attempts to discover the Northwest Passage. Faced with treacherous conditions, limited resources, dwindling hope and fear of the unknown, the crew is pushed to the brink of extinction. Frozen, isolated and stuck at the end of the earth, The Terror highlights all that can go wrong when a group of men, desperate to survive, struggle not only with the elements, but with each other.
Character Descriptions:
- Captain Francis Crozier (Played by Jared Harris) – Captain of the HMS Terror and second in command of the expedition, Francis Crozier is a peerless sailor, but also an Irishman who has reached his glass ceiling in Her Majesty’s Royal Navy. He’s had to accept his second-class status without internalizing it even as he sees his accomplishments again and again go unrecognized and his expert advice unheeded. When disaster strikes the expedition and he finally has a chance to prove himself, will he be able to face down his many demons and rise to the challenge of saving his men?
- Sir John Franklin (Played by Ciarán Hinds) – Captain of HMS Erebus and commander of the expedition, Sir John Franklin is an experienced leader with a blemished record in the Royal Navy, a man “everyone likes, but no one respects.” He saw men die under his leadership on a previous polar expedition, and, nearing the end of his uneven career, would like to retire in full glory as the man who finally discovered the Northwest Passage. But despite his best efforts, his ambition puts his men in horrible danger and he must try to undo the damage caused by his Victorian hubris.
- Captain James Fitzjames (Played by Tobias Menzies) – Second in command of Erebus and third in command of the expedition, James Fitzjames is a rising star in the British Royal Navy. He has secured John Franklin’s confidence in spite of his never having sailed in the polar regions before, and develops an enmity toward Crozier. Fitzjames perceives Crozier as a joyless alcoholic bore, but he secretly knows that Crozier sees through his self-aggrandizing bluster. And Crozier is not wrong: When the expedition finds itself in desperate straits, the confident mask Fitzjames presents to the world begins to slip, revealing a man with crippling secrets.
- Doctor Henry Goodsir (Played by Paul Ready) – The most junior of the expedition’s four doctors, Henry Goodsir is a gentle, moral soul who joins the Discovery Service to explore the natural world of the Arctic. But his open-minded intellect and empathetic nature make him the first to realize something supernatural is also in play, and he sets about trying to understand the forces working to destroy the men even while he redoubles his efforts to try to connect with this vast and uncanny landscape and its indigenous people.
