Stars of Peacock’s “Hysteria!” Discuss Satanic Panic Origins and Forming a Heavy Metal Band [Interview]

Anna Camp’s devout Christian Tracy Whitehead is at the frontlines of stirring up a Satanic Panic frenzy in Peacock‘s coming-of-age thriller “Hysteria!” Her central targets? High school outcasts and close friends Dylan Campbell (Emjay Anthony), Jordy (Chiara Aurelia), and Spud (Kezii Curtis).

That the trio is part of a heavy metal band draws Tracy’s ire, setting the stage for paranoia, mistrust, and occult madness when they decide to lean into their Satanic reputation. That backfires when a series of bizarre kidnappings, murders, and supernatural events trace back to the friends. That Tracy has domestic woes with her own daughter, Faith (Nikki Hahn), will only further complicate the growing division between teens and grownups alike in the small Michigan town plagued by, well, hysteria.

Written and executive produced by Matthew Scott Kane (Stitchers) and David Goodman (The Orville), “Hysteria!” explores the dark era of Satanic Panic through a coming-of-age genre lens, blending drama, comedy, and horror. Tracy Whitehead serves as one of the central antagonists, one that bears the strongest resemblance to historical figures tied to Satanic Panic, but expect far more than meets the eye to Camp’s character.

“I didn’t really base her off of anyone specific,” Camp tells Bloody Disgusting. “I drew from a lot of things. There’s a little Tipper Gore in there, obviously. But a lot of it is in the script. With each script I got, I got to learn more about Tracy because she starts off pretty small, and then you get to see who she really is, what made her who she is today, and the trauma she experienced in her past. And as an actor playing the ‘villain,’ you don’t normally get to go back in time and see what made them the way that they are, why they are so driven, and why they are so ‘kooky’ or ‘crazy.’ This was a real gift to get to go back in time because I think it created a lot of empathy for me, the actress, to have for Tracy. It also hopefully creates empathy for the audience. And they can look at Tracy in a different light after they see one of the episodes in the season. It was really exciting to get to play that role; I think they wrote an incredible character.“

Tracy may be the driving force behind the hysteria and turning the residents against each other, but she at least raised her daughter well. Faith is at the frontlines of the horror in the series premiere, and the traumatic event winds up irrevocably altering her relationship with her prickly mother. Moreover, Faith simply wants to experience normality, out from under her mother’s oppressive thumb.

Hahn explains, “Something that I couldn’t wait to explore and that I think is so relatable is that really, at the end of the day, she is just trying to be a normal teenager, which is, I think, something everybody can relate to. She’s finding her own individuality. It definitely was fun to explore her kind of stepping into high school and adolescence for the first time and to kind of play around with that since these are her first experiences, a prom or boyfriend, crushes. So that definitely was a lot of fun to have room to explore that.”

While Faith’s journey in trying to piece together what happened to her and stand up to her mother makes for a rewarding arch in itself, the beating heart of “Hysteria!” lies with the rock band navigating their newfound popularity/infamy, friendships, and identity. 

Of the three, the band’s frontman, Dylan, makes for the most brash and driven by hormones. In sharing how Anthony, Aurelia, and Curtis formed the tight-knit relationship between characters, Anthony gives insight into his character. “We actually had a band camp,” Anthony says. “We flew out three weeks earlier than we started filming, and we learned our instruments because I already played the drums, but Chiara learned the bass, and then I learned the guitar. So, we definitely had a lot of time to practice. It was five hours a day for three weeks.”

It wasn’t just band camp; the actors took improv, too. Anthony adds, “It was definitely interesting. We had the improv class, which was more than an improv class. We really dove into our characters. I remember we would read scenes, and we were just asked questions like, ‘What is your character feeling right here?’ This and that. So, that definitely helped me dive into the character a lot. But the best thing about Dylan is that he just loves guitar. So, I think that’s definitely a safe space. He’s not very sure about anything except for his music.”

Aurelia explains, “What’s interesting about this friend group dynamic is everyone’s relationships are different. Even though we’re all together all the time, my relationship with Kezzi’s character and my relationship with Emjay’s character and their relationships, to me, create this really interesting triangle. It was really fun to be able to bounce off of the boys and feel really comfortable with them. We became our own friends off set as well. So, getting to play with that and rely on each other, go to work, and get excited to hang out every day with your friends and feel really comfortable in a working environment, getting to play around and just have fun with these characters.”

As for her character, Jordy, Aurelia was drawn to the layered role. Jordy isn’t just your stereotypical goth girl but a take-charge type whose intelligence puts her on the cusp of solving some of the season’s biggest mysteries. She tells us, “For Jordy, growing up, there were a lot of different transitional periods. Between her relationship with Faith and not really feeling like she necessarily fits in with the cool kids at school and being judged by everyone, I think that she uses her looks and the way that she represents herself as a form of self-expression. Our showrunner, Matt, talked to me about how growing up, he felt like he related most to Jordy and that there was an element for him of that deadpan sarcasm, which was his coping mechanism. Obviously, he’s not the same as Jordy, but he used that deadpan sarcasm in his life, and that’s the way that he communicated with others.”

“I think there’s a bit of a disconnect between her and her family and her relationships,” Aurelia continues. “Even the fact that she needs to change and transform herself outside of her home in order to go to school, and there’s a part of her life that her parents will never understand; there’s a part of her life that her friends will never understand. But I feel like there’s so many layers beneath the surface, and there’s so much that she’s been through to get to where she is. Being able to fully have Spud and Dylan as her friends, whom she can rely on, are pretty much the only people in this world who truly know her. I think that’s her safe space. She chooses to go along with Dylan’s crazy plan because she adores him, wants to see this through, and wants him to be happy. But I think she knows the whole time that shit’s about to hit the fan.”

If Dylan is the more impulsive one to Jordy’s more reserved intellect, Spud often acts as the comic relief and peacekeeper when rifts emerge. Kezzi’s character may be prone to jokes and spouting conspiracy theories, but there’s a grounded intelligence that’s often overlooked by everyone around him. Kezzi agrees, “Yeah, between talking to Matt, our amazing showrunner, and our first episode director Jordan [Vogt-Roberts], it was really important that what Spud was saying was not exactly far-fetched. It was almost like what he was saying was outlandish, but there was some truth to it, and I carried that with me throughout the show. If I had to say some funny banter here, it would be in truth. So, it was just keeping, I don’t know, just a reality lens on the character at all times, just looking at things from all angles.”

Of the three, Spud also shares the most scenes with Bruce Campbell, who plays the compassionate Chief Dandridge. “Bruce is the truth,” Kezzi says with a grin. “That’s the saying I have for him now. Emjay had said it earlier; he carries himself as a veteran because he is. He’s been on multiple sets. He knows how it’s supposed to go, but he’s also so approachable. It was really cool to be able to collab with him on scenes and be like, ‘Oh, I didn’t think about it like that. Did you think about it like that?’ So, I mean, for Bruce specifically, because I had the most scenes with him, it was honestly just like another fun day at work.”

All episodes of “Hysteria!” premiere on Friday, October 18, 2024.

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