“I don’t want to be chosen.”
This is Vic McQueen’s response to Maggie Leigh in the “Hero’s Journey” teaser for AMC’s upcoming series NOS4A2, based on Joe Hill’s epic novel. But Maggie, who’s reached into her scrabble bag and read the future in her scrabble tiles, knows that only Vic can stop serial child abductor Charlie Manx.
In NOS4A2’s central conflict of good versus evil, it’s Vic McQueen’s unique talent that gives her a fighting chance to stop the ever-creepy Manx. But Vic isn’t cut from the traditional hero cloth. She is NOS4A2’s superpowered heroine, but it comes with great reluctance, a troubled history, and suffering. It’s not just her special ability that makes her super-powered, though, but her sense of humor, courage, and tough-as-nails fortitude.
Protagonist Vic McQueen is played by Ashleigh Cummings, a talented actress who received major acclaim for her role as Vicki in the challenging thriller Hounds of Love. An 18-year old with dreams of attending art school, Vic comes from a working-class family that can’t afford such lofty goals. Something her practical-minded mother Linda (Virgina Kull) is adamant about. Linda cleans houses for a living, namely the houses of upper class in their small New England town, while Vic’s father Chris (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) is less steady at providing an income; though he’s fond of working on bikes in his free time. Between this and his full support of his daughter’s less practical dreams, Linda and Chris consistently find themselves at odds with each other. It’s compounded by Vic’s secret gift.
When Linda loses something precious to her, Vic discovers she can locate it by driving her dirt bike over a covered bridge that was, by all accounts, torn down decades prior. Riding over that bridge drops her off right at the place where the lost object can be found, no matter the distance. The only problem is that when Vic returns, a searing pain lodges itself behind her left eye and she falls into a seriously feverish state. It costs her to use this gift.
This complicated new ability, combined with a tumultuous home life and town classicism rearing its ugly head makes it easy to see why the adolescent teen might not want any other additional responsibilities thrown her way.
Enter spunky, purple-haired librarian Maggie Leigh (Jahkara Smith), someone with a talent of her own. Maggie is a medium, thanks to her handy scrabble tiles. And because of a personal interest in a missing case, the tiles have put Charlie Manx on her radar. They’ve also put Vic McQueen on her radar, as the chosen one to stop his evil, child-soul devouring ways.
Vic doesn’t want to be chosen. She’s not looking to be anyone’s savior when she’s already struggling to stay above water in her own life. She doesn’t know it yet, but it’s a trait she shares in common with some of the best heroes. Or at least the more complex and interesting ones. Charlie Manx may be a terrifying and powerful foe, but he’s rivaled be the shear tenacity of a complicated, gutsy teen. The road to becoming a reluctant hero is in large part of what makes Joe Hill’s novel so captivating, and based on the premiere, it’s clear that translates well on screen too.
It’ll be exciting to see how the rest of her journey unfolds over the course of the 10-episode inaugural season.
NOS4A2 premieres on AMC on June 2, 2019.