What We Learned About Midnight, Texas at WonderCon 2017

Here’s what we learned about the upcoming NBC show Midnight, Texas at WonderCon 2017

NBC‘s upcoming horror series Midnight, Texas, from Charlaine Harris (the author behind True Blood), will premiere on July 25, 2017. In the show, we find a town full of creatures, and the only people that stick out are the normal ones. We got a chance to check out the premiere episode at WonderCon 2017 in Anaheim, CA, was well as a panel with the cast, including François Arnaud, Dylan Bruce, Parisa Fitz-Henley, Arielle Kebbel, Jason Lewis, and Sarah Ramos, as well as executive producers Monica Owusu-Breen and David Janollari.

Midnight, Texas stars François Arnaud (The Borgias) as Manfred, a charming, powerful psychic who can communicate with spirits and finds safety in Midnight surrounding himself with both human and supernatural allies. Midnight is also home to Bobo, proprietor of Midnight’s local pawn shop (Dylan Bruce, Orphan Black); Fiji, a witch who owns the local wiccan shop (Parisa Fitz-Henley, Luke Cage); Olivia, a mysterious assassin with a weapon for every occasion (Arielle Kebbel, The Vampire Diaries); Joe, an angel who knows all of Midnight’s secrets having been around for millennia (Jason Lewis, Sex and the City); Lemuel, a wise vampire with a long history in Midnight (Peter Mensah, True Blood); Creek, an aspiring writer with big dreams (Sarah Ramos, Parenthood); and Rev. Emilio Sheehan, who can’t resist the pull of a full moon (Yul Vazquez, Captain Phillips).

In the first episode of Midnight, Texas, we meet Manfred, who is working as a high-end psychic. Something goes wrong and a ghost possesses him and almost murders a client. He also owes someone named Hightower money, so he takes off for Midnight, Texas. As he travels in his very old van, the ghost of his grandmother laughingly tells him he’ll be safe there. The town isn’t really happy to see him, but he quickly meets a sweet girl named Creek who is clearly smitten with him. He also meets a vampire, a hit woman, a human pawn shop owner, a witch and more. Where a murder happens, he realizes that this town is hated by outsiders and that there is more going on here than he realized.

RELATED: The Cast and Producers Take Us to Midnight, Texas

After the screening, we heard from the cast and writer. One of the things Owusu-Breen stressed is that she loves the books. (The entire cast said they read them.) She said that she added, rather than changed things. She also spoke about revealing the characters, especially Joe with his wings, early on. “I tried to play closer to the vest with things,” early on, she explained. She said it was more interesting to tell us what the characters are, and leave the mysteries behind them be the reveals. “We let the audience know who they are and ask questions about that. It’s not their powers that make them interesting. They’re interesting and they have powers…The fact that he’s an angel is just one of the many things that makes Joe, Joe.” Lewis said he was so happy to be playing Joe, joking about how the wings were really his. He said his inner 10-year old loved working on Midnight, Texas, because he gets to do fantastic things. 

We learned from Arnaud and Owusu-Breen that Manfred’s tattoos have a meaning. The arrows that go up one arm and down the other are the way he channels energy. “I tried to fight for more piercings. In the book he had more piercings,” Arnaud said.

Bruce talked about Bobo and how he fits in Midnight, even though he’s human. “It’s so much fun for me because I feel like he’s been there for a while. He’s used to Lem [the vampire]. He’s used to knowing that Olivia is a hit woman. When Joe spreads his wings, he’s like, that man is magical! Bobo was raised Christian and now he’s got an angel living in his town.” He also praised the audience, saying, “Sci-fi fans are the best fans there are.”

Fitz-Henley said the cast hung out after the pilot and that they do all the time. “Being in a place like Albuquerque…people call it Albu-quirky for a reason. We’re together all the time. We’re not driving across LA…we built a family.” Ramos said that Owusu-Breen really grounded her characters, so that things are happening, and then the powers come out. Kebbel said, “I love the messages we can give in the supernatural world. Our show is a place where weirdos can fit in. Every one of our characters have a dark past. We have secrets. We don’t ask about them.” She said they help each other out and that “one person’s strength is another person’s weakness…we can make it really big and exciting, but there are messages under it.”

Are you guys excited to watch Midnight, Texas when it premieres on NBC on July 25? Did you read the book by Charlaine Harris? Let us know in the comments or tweet us @ComingSoonnet.

Check out the trailer for Midnight, Texas below and stay tuned for more news from WonderCon 2017!

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