A new photo and a few fresh plot details shed light on Servant, the mysterious M. Night Shyamalan TV show coming soon to Apple TV+.
The picture shows Harry Potter’s Rupert Grint, who stars in the show, which Shyamalan describes as a potboiler fueled by paranoia. And then there’s those creepy baby feet …
Shyamalan, who writes, directs, produces and even acts in many of his films, earned a reputation for creepy atmospherics (and twist endings) with a string of movies that started with 1999’s well-received The Sixth Sense. Followups Unbreakable, Signs and The Village drew increasingly tepid reviews, but 2016’s Split showed Shyamalan returning to form.
The description of Servant on the Apple TV+ site describes the show in broad terms. “From M. Night Shyamalan, Servant follows a Philadelphia couple in mourning after an unspeakable tragedy creates a rift in their marriage and opens the door for a mysterious force to enter their home.”
M. Night Shyamalan’s Servant
Image: Apple
Servant stars Grint (who played Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter films) as well as Lauren Ambrose (Claire from Six Feet Under), Toby Kebbel (Dead Man’s Shoes) and Nell Tiger Free (Myrcella Baratheon from Game of Thrones).
Entertainment Weekly on Wednesday published the first photo of Grint in Servant. In the still, the actor peers into a crib with a worried expression on his face as Kebbel looks on. Another creepy Apple TV+ image shows a baby’s feet cradled in a pair of hands, all on a dark background.
All told, the Servant marketing materials definitely provoke a nightmare babysitter vibe or some sort of horrifying Rosemary’s Baby goings-on.
Entertainment Weekly also dished out a few more morsels of info about the show, including a quote from Shyamalan praising Grint and the other actors:
When Tony Basgallop pitched M. Night Shyamalan this psychological thriller about parents (Lauren Ambrose and Toby Kebbell) who hire some help (Nell Tiger Free), the EP couldn’t resist. “What’s unusual is it’s set in one location. It’s the perfect setting for paranoia,” says Shyamalan, who also couldn’t resist hiring Harry Potter’s Rupert Grint as the mysterious Julian Pierce. “He’s a truly gifted actor,” he says of the former child star. “These four actors are in this almost playlike show. They all buzz with this … energy.”
The IMDb listing for Servant shows very little information beyond cast and creators. Details about the actually story line for Shyamalan’s new show remains incredibly thin, although filming reportedly finished earlier.
“Plot kept under wraps,” IMDb says. (Shocker.)
Apple TV+ launches this November
CEO Tim Cook revealed the launch date and pricing for Apple’s streaming video service during this week’s “By Innovation Only” event.
Apple TV+ arrives November 1 in more than 100 countries. It will launch with a limited catalog of Apple original TV shows and movies. A monthly subscription will cost $4.99 for up to six family members (through Family Sharing). Anyone can enjoy a free seven-day trial, Apple says. And customers who purchase certain Apple devices will get a free one-year subscription to the service.
During this week’s event, the company also showcased the first full trailer for See, a dystopian series starring Aquaman actor Jason Momoa. That show, which reportedly cost roughly as much as Game of Thrones to film, takes place in a world where humans lost the sense of vision. The birth of twins who can see sets in motion what looks like an epic struggle.
