Them is an American horror anthology television series created by Little Marvin. Consisting of two seasons, each with a self-contained story but both taking place in the same universe, and with Deborah Ayorinde in the lead role as different characters. The first season co-starred Ashley Thomas, Alison Pill, and Ryan Kwanten, and the second, Pam Grier, Luke James, Joshua J. Williams and Jeremy Bobb.
The first season, subtitled Covenant, premiered on Amazon Prime Video on April 9, 2021, and the second, The Scare, premiered on April 25, 2024. The first season polarized critics and audience; while its performances and visuals were praised, its handling of the series' subject matter was labelled by some as "exploitative" and "unnecessarily graphic". Reviews for the second season were highly positive, with better reception for the handling of its themes and horror elements.
Contents
Plot
Set in 1953, Them: Covenant follows a black family who move from North Carolina to an all-white neighborhood in East Compton during the Second Great Migration. The family's initially idyllic home by degrees transforms into an epicenter of evil forces, both mundane and otherworldly.
Them: The Scare, set in 1991, centers on LAPD Detective Dawn Reeve, who is assigned to a new case: a gruesome murder that leaves the hardened detectives shaken. As Dawn investigates, a malevolent force inflicts itself on the detective and her family.
Cast and characters
Covenant (2021)
Deborah Ayorinde as Livia "Lucky" Emory, a housewife whose black family moves to an all-white neighborhood
Ashley Thomas as Henry Emory, Lucky's husband and an engineer
Alison Pill as Elizabeth "Betty" Wendell, a racist housewife very involved in neighborhood activities who makes it her mission to drive the Emorys out.
Shahadi Wright Joseph as Ruby Lee Emory, Lucky and Henry's daughter and oldest child
Melody Hurd as Gracie Emory, Lucky and Henry's younger daughter
Ryan Kwanten as George Bell, a milkman on whom Betty has a secret crush
Dale Dickey as The Woman
Liam McIntyre as Clarke Wendell
Lindsey Kraft as Midge Pruitt
Pat Healy as Marty Dixon
Brooke Smith as Helen Koistra
Malcolm Mays as Calvin
John Patrick Jordan as Earl
Dirk Rogers as Miss Vera
Abbie Cobb as Nat Dixon
Max Barsness as Dale Pruitt
Kim Shaw as Carol Lynn Denton
Bailey Noble as Marlene
Derek Phillips as Sergeant Bull Wheatley
The Scare (2024)
Deborah Ayorinde as Detective Dawn Reeve, tasked with investigating a series of strange, gruesome murders
Pam Grier as Athena Reeve, Dawn's mother
Luke James as Edmund Gaines, an amateur actor struggling with his career and mental health
Joshua J. Williams as Kelvin "Kel" Reeve, Dawn's son who is in high school
Jeremy Bobb as Detective Ronald McKinney, Dawn's co-worker with whom she shares a conflictual relationship
Iman Shumpert as Corey, Dawn's ex-husband and Kel's father
Malcolm M. Mays as Calvin
Carlito Olivero as Detective Joaquin Diaz, a recently-appointed detective who assists Dawn
Brey Howard as Donovan
Charles Brice as Reggie marks
Tamika Shannon as Rhonda, a receptionist and Edmund's love interest
Episodes
Production
Development
On July 28, 2018, Amazon gave the project a two-season order. The series was created by Little Marvin, who also wrote the script for the first season and was set to executive produce the show alongside Lena Waithe under their overall deals with Amazon Studios. Roy Lee, Miri Yoon, and Michael Connolly of Vertigo Entertainment were also announced as executive producers, with Vertigo co-producing the series under the company's deal with Sony Pictures Television. The first season is subtitled Them: Covenant, and the series will follow a similar limited semi-anthological structure to American Horror Story, with each season following a different story with different characters. Alongside the series order announcement, Waithe said:
Little Marvin's script stayed with me for weeks after I read it. He's written something that's provocative and terrifying. The first season will speak to how frightening it was to be black in 1953. It will also remind us that being black in 2018 is just as horrifying. This anthology series will examine the cultural divides among all of us and explore us vs them in a way we've never seen before.
On April 1, 2019, David Matthews joined the series as showrunner under his newly announced overall deal at Sony Pictures Television.
A year and a half after premiering, the cast of the second season, titled The Scare, was announced.
Casting
On July 27, 2019, Deborah Ayorinde and Ashley Thomas were cast in the lead roles. Shahadi Wright Joseph, Alison Pill, Ryan Kwanten, Melody Hurd, Javier Botet, and Percy Hynes White were added to the main cast on October 3, 2019, alongside Derek Phillips who was cast in a recurring capacity. On December 2, 2019, Brooke Smith, Anika Noni Rose P.J. Byrne, Malcolm Mays, Jeremiah Birkett, and Sophie Guest joined the recurring cast.
For the second season, Deborah Ayorinde returns with the new additions of Pam Grier, Luke James, Joshua J. Williams and Jeremy Bobb as regulars, and Wayne Knight, Carlito Olivero, Charles Brice and Iman Shumpert will recur.
Filming
The series began production for its first season on July 8, 2019, with filming taking place between Atlanta and Los Angeles.
The set for the first season's neighborhood was built on a lot in Pomona, California.
Release
The series had its world premiere on March 18, 2021, at the SXSW Film Festival as part of the Episodic Premieres section. The series premiered on Amazon Prime Video on April 9, 2021. The second season premiered on April 25, 2024.
Reception
Critical response
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the first season of the series has a 58% fresh rating from 50 critic reviews with an average score of 6.50/10. The site's critical consensus reads "Deborah Ayorinde and Ashley Thomas' gripping performances help Them sustain a sufficient sense of terror, but its blunt and bloody approach undermines any social commentary in favor of more superficial horrors." On Metacritic, the first season of the series received a mixed rating of 57/100 based on 20 critic reviews.
The Guardian's Lucy Mangan gave the show 4/5 stars, writing that "What marks out this portrayal of 50s prejudice (not unworked ground) is that, thanks to magnificent performances from Thomas and Ayorinde, you get a great sense of the cost to victims: the sheer amount of mental energy it takes to navigate a relentlessly hostile world, the consequent exhaustion, the constant abrading of the soul."
In a mostly negative review, Lovia Gyarkye of The Hollywood Reporter said that "Them suffers from an overcrowded narrative and too many themes, making for an uneven, dizzying, at times overly dense viewing experience. From the violent neighbors and the history of black homeownership to the traumas that plague each member of the Emory family, the show takes on more than it can responsibly unpack."
Variety's chief TV critic Daniel D'Addario wrote that "In visual style and in the performances of the actors playing the Emorys, it captures a recognizable 1950s of the mind. A striking early sequence sees the family in integrated settings, being assisted by white employees at an appliance store and a soda fountain. The point is made, elegantly, that the Emorys have left behind the explicit bigotry of the American South for a place where the horrors are more insidious", but described the series as "surprisingly unimaginative".
Some critics took issue with scenes of graphic racial violence, particularly a scene in which a black couple is blinded with hot pokers and burned alive, calling Them "black trauma porn".
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the second season of the series has a 100% fresh rating from 11 critic reviews with an average score of 7.30/10. The site's critical consensus reads "A marked improvement with a new story, effective frights and a keen commentary on generational scars, The Scare is a scream."
