Editorials
Horror Shows That Need a “Twin Peaks”-Style Comeback
With the explosion of streaming services and entertainment venues, along with a desire to get and hold the attention of the modern viewer, it’s no surprise that many of them have brought back popular and cult series years after their initial run ended. From Arrested Development to Prison Break to 24, networks and content producers embraced the power of recognition. However, unlike other shows like MacGyver and Hawaii 5-0, which rebooted their concepts, these other shows picked up their story years after the initial run, while still telling the same story about the same characters.
Two of the most prominent examples are The X-Files, which returned to FOX with record viewership, and Twin Peaks, earning David Lynch some of the best critical reception of his career. Both are considered horror-themed series, so why not strike while the nostalgia iron is hot and bring back some other beloved horror series? This is a list of other great horror TV series that could make a comeback.
(They’re listed in order of likelihood of return, from most to least.)
HANNIBAL
Horror fans loved Bryan Fuller’s interpretation of the Thomas Harris novel series, but unfortunately, they were the only ones watching. After three critically acclaimed but poorly watched seasons filled with disturbingly beautiful imagery, stunning dialogue, and flawless performances from Hugh Dancy and Mads Mikkelsen, NBC pulled the plug.
Unlike other shows on this list, though, Fuller still talks regularly and excitedly about bringing it back for another run with the same cast and creative team. The excitement hasn’t died for the return of this series from the fans OR the creators, so don’t give up hope. Hannibal may dine again.
TREMORS
Back in 2003, before the horror-film-to-TV-series trend hit strong with Bates Motel and Hannibal, the Sci-Fi Channel adapted the beloved horror-comedy franchise Tremors into a series, complete with the original writers on board. The show was fun, delving into the town of Perfection, Nevada as a protected wildlife sanctuary/tourist attraction for the giant, carnivorous worms. It also expanded its mythology to include crazed scientists in the desert creating even more troubling monsters that intrepid survivalist Burt Gummer had to deal with.
The series was canceled after a single season when the network began to rebrand itself as Syfy and create darker series content like Battlestar Galactica. Interest in Tremors never fully vanished, however, with another film entry in the series popping up in 2015; later, interest was expressed from original cast member Kevin Bacon to bring a continuing series back to TV. The life cycle of the Graboids may see another incarnation yet.
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER/ANGEL
With one of the most dedicated and rabid fan bases on television and a cult following long after its original run on television ended, the Buffy universe has long been rumored to be making some kind of return. From the big-screen relaunch (which wouldn’t have involved creator Joss Whedon) to spinoff series’ about Faith and Giles (the latter of which, called Ripper, nearly became a reality on the BBC) to comic book storylines that tell season-long arcs continuing past the TV show’s end, no one truly believes that we’ve heard the end of the franchise.
Creating a return to the universe and for Buffy herself, seeing her as a grown-up and watching supernatural tales that allegorically represent the struggles of adulthood, marriage, and being a parent, might be just the thing that grown Buffy aficionados would flock to.
MILLENNIUM
Millennium was a dark and affecting horror series about a criminal profiler with an uncanny ability to get inside the heads of disturbed killers, and it was influential on procedural television and even the framework of the aforementioned Hannibal. The X-Files creator Chris Carter toyed with the supernatural in Millennium as well, but focused mostly on the evil of humanity. The series was narrowly renewed for a second and third season, and it took a crossover episode of The X-Files to give lead character Frank Black some resolution.
Though the original impetus for the series, the millennium itself, is long gone, returning to the life and work of Frank Black would make for some great, dark television. And Lance Henriksen has already gone on record as wanting to return to the character, so only FOX and Chris Carter need to sign off.
EERIE, INDIANA
A beloved cult show that deserves even more love and admiration than it already receives, the horror-comedy series perfectly portrayed what any adolescent horror fan’s inner world would look like if it sprang to life. It was cancelled in its first season, but reruns on The Disney Channel kept it in the popular imagination for years afterwards and led to another single-season spin-off, Eerie, Indiana: The Other Dimension.
If the original series was about a boy who uncovered the strange secrets of his hometown but no one believed him, bringing the show back with a grown-up Omri Katz playing his character as an adult seems like a perfect continuation. Instead of being the investigating child, perhaps he’s now the creepy adult figure who works out of the local library, still trying to solve decades-old mysteries…
INVASION
Television creator Shaun Cassidy will be remembered as a visionary whose ideas were ahead of their time, from the epic fantasy series Roar to the recent Emerald City to this series, about an alien invasion in the aftermath of a hurricane in Florida. The series was well-received critically and commercially, but it was dropped when its post-Lost time slot didn’t produce as many viewers as the network felt it should for such prime TV real estate.
The smart, low-key supernatural thriller series reworked the Invasion of the Body Snatchers concept into a story about family, and much of that storytelling could still work now. Tyler Labine and William Fichtner have both expressed sadness at not being able to continue the story, as did the creator; so though it is not likely to see it again, there is still interest from the people who created it.
AMERICAN GOTHIC
If the cancellation of Shaun Cassidy’s Invasion was a tragedy, then the unceremonious ending of his series American Gothic was an epic heartbreak. With producer Sam Raimi, the series boasted small-town Southern creepiness and a brilliant cast including Gary Cole, Lucas Black, and Sarah Paulson. The plot, about an evil sheriff in a small town manipulating everyone except a new local doctor and a powerful young boy, was too complicated and challenging for audiences of the time.
A new series could easily pick up years later, with young Caleb (a fantastic young Lucas Black) all grown up and struggling not to become the same evil figure that the old Sheriff Buck was trying to mold him to be. It was like nothing else on television, and audiences might welcome its originality back with open arms.
FRIDAY THE 13TH: THE SERIES
If you can get past the fact that it is entirely unconnected to the film franchise whose name it bears, this was a fun three-season show about a couple of kids collecting evil artifacts that pre-dated other similar high-concept series like Warehouse 13. The series, which was actually nominated for an Emmy, ran for three seasons and boasted behind the camera work from horror luminaries like David Cronenberg, Mick Garris, and Tom McLoughlin.
The series was abruptly canceled in season three, so it ended with no conclusion. It wouldn’t be hard to imagine that the work of collecting those antiques has gone on all these years, and people have died and joined the cause along the way.
NIGHTMARE CAFE
A brilliant high-concept series from horror genius Wes Craven, Nightmare Café had just a handful of episodes to show the versatility and possibility it contained. The story revolved around a café that appeared in random places, involving itself and its employees in the lives of unsuspecting patrons. The show was a balance of anthology-style stories about its patrons and a continuing narrative about its employees, making it an interesting narrative hybrid.
The series only made six episodes before its unfortunate cancellation, but the premise is one that a show could immediately jump right back into. Robert Englund is still alive and likely willing to return in his role as restaurant owner Blackie, and the framework of this should make for a compelling dark fantasy series a la The Magicians or American Gods.
FREAKYLINKS and STRANGE LUCK
The longest of longshots, the only reason these shows made the list is because of the fond (if foggy) memories they bring back for the small group of viewers who caught them on their initial runs. Both shows were vaguely supernatural concepts that popped up on FOX after the network’s success with The X-Files, and both were victims of the perceived underperformance when compared with Chris Carter’s juggernaut. Freakylinks was an X-Files for the Gen-X crowd with a likable lead performance from Ethan Embry, and Strange Luck was a spooky-tinged modern noir series about a photographer with preternaturally odd luck who gets sucked into outlandish events.
Let’s be honest: these two are almost certainly not coming back. But in a world with hundreds of channels and dozens of streaming outlets, it may not be too much of a pipe dream to imagine that any of these shows might find their way back to our television, computer, or phone screens.
Editorials
Taking a Closer Look at the ‘Christmas Carol’ Ghosts of Ti West’s ‘Ebenezer’
The trailer for Ti West’s upcoming adaptation of A Christmas Carol raised a lot of eyebrows when it dropped earlier this week. While plenty of folks initially dismissed Ebenezer as a derivative project meant to cash in on the recent wave of unnecessary prequels that expand the backstory of beloved characters (such as 2023’s Wonka), Charles Dickens’ original novel already made a point of exploring Ebenezer Scrooge’s origins in detail – meaning that this new film is likely just a particularly faithful adaptation of the source material under a different name.
Couple that with the fact that the movie is being helmed by a genuine horror auteur and I think it’s safe to say that the latest iteration of the first modern ghost story is in good hands.
That being said, one detail that immediately jumped out at me during the brief teaser (other than a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it nod to Johnny Depp’s iconic bedroom death scene from the original A Nightmare on Elm Street) is the fact that many of Ebenezer’s ghosts appear to have been directly lifted from the iconic John Leech illustrations that accompanied the first edition of Dickens’ novel.
Here are a couple of stills from the trailer compared to the original artwork:

The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come in ‘Ebenezer’ and ‘A Christmas Carol’

The Phantoms in ‘A Christmas Carol’ and ‘Ebenezer’

Marley’s Ghost in ‘Ebenezer’ and ‘A Christmas Carol’
Mainly working with old-school wood and steel engravings that would later be transferred to print, Leech was instrumental in crafting the iconic look of history’s most influential phantoms – especially since Dickens is said to have been deeply involved with the creation of these so-called “comic illustrations.”
And since the novel is commonly said to have popularized spiritualism in Victorian England, much of the ghostly iconography that we still see in genre media to this very day (including some of Ti West’s previous films) can be traced back to the author’s partnership with Leech.
Ebenezer won’t be the first A Christmas Carol adaptation to borrow heavily from these designs, but I can appreciate how Ti West is incorporating an important part of horror history into his latest film.
Ebenezer will be available in theaters starting November 13.


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