Fairytales are being turned on their head once more with the release of the new CBS series, Tell Me A Story, which sees them twisted and dark within a modern world.
Tell Me a Story takes the world’s most beloved fairy tales and reimagines them as a dark and twisted psychological thriller. Set in modern-day New York City, the first season of this serialised drama interweaves The Three Little Pigs, Little Red Riding Hood, and Hansel and Gretel into an epic and subversive tale of love, loss, greed, revenge, and murder.
The upcoming series is based on Cuéntame Un Cuento, a Spanish series which premiered in back 2013. Executive producer Kevin Williamson said he was taken by the show’s format. “When I was sent this script, it reminded me of writing Scream, and of deconstructing the horror genre,” said Williamson during the San Diego Comic Con panel earlier this year.
In the series, Paul Wesley (The Vampire Diaries) will play Eddie, a derelict and troubled individual whose petulance is fueled even more by his problems with drugs and alcohol. Billy Magnussen (Maniac) plays Nick, a young high school teacher who is handsome, seductive and quite possibly a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
Kim Cattrall (Sex and the City) plays Colleen, an unlikely and very nontraditional grandmother. When her son moves back home, bringing with him a troubled teenager, Kayla, this former chorus girl is going to have to grow up finally and take on the parental duties to protect her family against a very dark and sinister threat. Kayla is played by Davina Campbell (The Originals), who has just moved from Oakland to New York with her dad. She lost her mother a year ago and since then has strayed from her once promising path — hanging with the wrong crowd, partying… anything to distract from the pain and grief of her mother’s death.
Starring Paul Wesley (The Vampire Diaries), Danielle Campbell (The Originals), Kim Cattrall (Sex and The City), Billy Magnussen (Maniac), James Wolk (The Zoo), Austin Butler (The Shannara Chronicles), Dania Ramirez (Once Upon a Time), Dorian Missick (Marvel’s Luke Cage), Michael Raymond-James (Once Upon a Time), Davi Santos (Law & Order True Crime), Sam Jaeger (Parenthood), and Zabryna Guevara (Gotham).
Kevin Williamson (The Vampire Diaries) executive produces with Kapital’s Aaron Kaplan and Dana Honor. Liz Friedlander directs and executive produces the first two episodes.
Tell Me A Story is released on CBS All Access on October 31st.
