Last year, Freeform started a push to develop TV projects that stretched out beyond just the kind of programming its former ABC Family distinction would adhere to. And part of that push has landed the network a pair of upcoming Marvel Comics projects, including Cloak & Dagger and The New Warriors. Strangely, Freeform has also been developing a show about vengeful killer mermaids, as one does, and that project received a full series order today. To celebrate, the network put out the first trailer for Siren, and it offers a gloriously weird look at this creepy story.
So many questions. So many comments. So many tail-thrusting motions. First called The Deep when Freeform initially got its toes wet with the concept, Siren simultaneously looks like dozens of other coastal cable dramas and like nothing else on TV. The uneasy feelings come almost immediately, too, with recurring Game of Thrones actress Eline Powell stepping in as one of those mermaids, Ryn, who looks enough like a human to not immediately cause riots, but people are still clearly uncomfortable looking at her piercing eyes and her precise cheekbones.
And citizens are oh so ready to look out for strange-looking people, too, since the town of Bristol Cove is a place where mermaid legends are pretty plentiful. So when Ryn shows up, it appears to be a sign that the folklore is true, and that the mermaids would indeed rise up out of the water to gain revenge on the human race for messing with their home, the ocean. Not that we get to see anyone other than Ryn getting fin-nicky about things. (This show will inspire so many puns.)
Speaking of the humans, we see The Fifth Wave's Alex Roe as a curious marine biologist named Ben who connects with Ryn in certain ways. Ben works with Fola Evans-Akingbola's marine biologist Maddie, who is far more wary of Ryn's sudden arrival than Ben is. Ian Verdun plays a deep sea fisherman who gets invested in the mystery, and Rena Owen plays a town eccentric named Helen who has an intimate knowledge of the mermaids that she isn't open to share with just anyone. Because they would just call her eccentric, right?
Siren's vibe doesn't seem like it'll offer much by way of comedy, although there are definitely moments that people will want to laugh at. (Ryn's face is just too much for me.) And understanding that this is just footage from the pilot, and not the entirety of the first season, there are still some enjoyably dark and disturbing bits. For whatever reason, just watching Ryn's mermaid form swimming through the water disturbs me. Though not as much as that gross pedophile dude that ends up as his own bloodied hood ornament.
Without an official release date locked down at Freeform just yet, Siren will be swimming in the deepest waters of your nightmares at some point in 2018, so there's more than enough time to get ready. While waiting, though, head to our midseason premiere schedule and our summer TV guide to see all the new and returning shows hitting the airwaves soon.
