The internet went absolutely nuts earlier this week when ateaser and a behind-the-scenes promofor the in-developmentTales From the Cryptreboot surfaced online. The videos weren’t actually released by TNT, but they appeared to be genuine and were very encouraging for those looking forward to the return of the horror anthology series. Unfortunately, it looks like the series is still on hold and may not be as far along as those recently revealed videos lead us to believe.
According toDen of Geek, the videos that made their way online were intended for internal use atTNTonly. They were never meant to be viewed by the public. As awesome as many felt those videos were, it looks likeM. Night Shyamalan’s reboot ofTales From the Cryptstill isn’t quite ready. Here is what Den of Geek had to say about it.
“Unfortunately, I can confirm that this isn’t the case, the teaser (which features HBO Cryptkeeper John Kassir’s distinctive cackle at the end) was only intended for internal use at the network to sell the show to advertisers, and dates back to spring 2016. At the moment, Tales From The Crypt remains in a holding pattern on TNT while those rights issues are worked out.”
Part of the problem with getting this new version ofTales From the Cryptoff the ground have been rights issues. One thing specifically is that TNT isn’t able to use the version of theCrypt-Keeper(portrayed byJohn Kassir) that was used on the HBO series because HBO still owns the rights to that version of the character. Since he appeared in the recent teasers that made their way online, it is pretty clear that those weren’t ever intended to market the series. Recently while promotingSplit,M. Night Shyamalantalked a bit about theTales From the Cryptreboot, saying that things are still a bit tricky in terms of getting the rights squared away. Here is what he had to say.
“We’re still figuring out the whole rights thing. It’s a very old property and a bazillion people involved with the rights, so working through all that, but I do have three or four different projects that I’m very excited about, so hopefully you’ll be reading about one or two coming up soon.”
As was teased in the behind-the-scenes video fromTales From the Cryptthat recently made its way online, the reboot of the series is intended to be part of an entire night of horror-themed programming. The block would includeShyamalan’sTales From the Crypt reboot, original shorts and a one-hour original horror series, tentatively titledTime of Death. Here is how TNT presidentKevin Reillyexplained it last year.
“I think it may even be longer than an hour. There’s going to be a half-hour anthology and then a one-hour original show with some shorts in between. So it’s part of a whole block. The original half-hour, sort of slightly comedic, kind of twisted [story] that Night himself is going to direct will be a part of it every week. Then we’re going to have rotating original one-hours. Then we’ve got shorts that’ll be part of it too.”
The originalTales from the Cryptseries, based on the 1950s EC Comics, aired on HBO from 1989 to 1996. There were also severalTales From the Cryptmovies, includingDemon KnightandBordello of Blood. Based on the very positive reaction to the recent videos, there is clearly a lot of people who would tune in if TNT can get this worked out. Maybe the evident demand will help the network finally get the rights issues squared away and getTales From the Crypton theair sooner rather than later. We will be sure to keep you up to date as more information becomes available.
