[Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for Teacup Episodes 5 and 6]

The Big Picture

Collider’s Perri Nemiroff sat down with
Teacup
creator Ian McCulloch and co-stars Chaske Spencer and Rob Morgan at Fantastic Fest 2024.
When neighbors in rural Georgia find themselves trapped on their land, they have to work together to survive a mysterious new threat.
In celebration of the release of Episode 5 and Episode 6, the crew discusses the series’ mysteries so far, breakout stars, and expectations for Season 2.

Welcome back for the spoilery half of Perri Nemiroff’s Fantastic Fest conversation with the crew of Peacock’s new must-watch horror series, Teacup. (If you missed the first half, check this out, then come back to this interview!) We’re now six episodes into the James Wan-produced horror series, and our questions for creator Ian McCulloch and co-stars Chaske Spencer and Rob Morgan keep piling up.

By now you know that once Teacup Season 1 takes off, it isn’t slowing down. The Chenoweth family and their neighbors, the Shanleys, are now trapped on their land by a mysterious and deadly entity, and the horrors of this realization are unspeakably gruesome. But as the show continues, so too do the mysteries, and during their conversation, Nemiroff had a few inquiries about the bizarre rainbow tree, Harbinger, Assassin, and more.

Check out the video above or the transcript below for behind-the-scenes details on that tree scene with Spencer, what it was like working opposite the series’ breakout star Jackson Kelly for Morgan, and how McCulloch plans to forge forward with the show in hopes of a second season.

What’s Up With That Tree?
“I still don’t know what the tree really is.”
Image via Peacock

10:45 Related ‘Teacup’s Creator “Went Too Far” Crafting the Horrific Death Scenes Creator Ian McCulloch and co-stars Chaske Spencer and Rob Morgan discuss crafting characters and deaths for this mysterious Peacock series.

Chaske, I am fascinated by this tree and what it does to a person. When you read those scripts, what were some of your biggest burning questions for Ian that you needed answers to in order to accurately portray what it does to him?

SPENCER: I still don’t know what the tree really is. [Laughs] But doing those scenes was fascinating because behind the scenes, they had the light things …

I have seen the light things!

SPENCER: Yeah, so they’re like, “There’s a spider falling on you right now…” You’re just trying to go with it. But I’m curious about the tree myself.

Here’s another thing that you might not have a very clear sense of or be so specific about, but what would you say is the biggest difference between how you play the character pre-tree connection and post-tree connection? Because in the later episodes, he’s got a little more anger, perhaps — or rather he’s releasing more of it.

SPENCER: Yes, I think that’s what it is. He’s seen past the looking-glass, and he’s gone through an experience with the tree that the other people really haven’t, and he knows that he needs to do something about this. I think for him, what I liked about post-tree was the decision to go with the other people and to create this community and then try to find other people. I think it made him more aware that this is more supernatural than what he thinks it is, and he needs more help than he can handle.

Season 2 Will Dig Into Specifics. For Now, “The Less You Talk About It, the Better”
Image via Peacock

Ian, this might be obnoxiously specific, but it’s something I started to think about. Did you put much thought into the difference between the tree, Harbinger, and Assassin in terms of how much of a person is left once they have latched onto them?

MCCULLOCH: No. [Laughs] Talking about people being involved in trusting, we’ve got Chaske in front of an LED tree, and we say, “Just trust us, this thing is drawing you in.” That’s all we need. And the less you talk about it, the better. But the tree, the liquid, Harbinger, Assassin, it evolved as the episodes were written. I’m a writer who, I don’t like to know what I’m writing at the end because then I’m bored. I try to find out as I go along, and they evolved. But it’s actually a really good question that, if we are lucky enough to do Season 2, we will get into that. The first steps or drum beats of that are Ruben post-tree. He’s traumatized. It’s like a recovering addict. It’s like someone who’s been through something. I was gonna say “something traumatic,” but he’s got PTSD. It’s a new kind of PTSD because it has to do with the alien tree.

‘Teacup’s “Action Jackson Kelly” Is a “Phenomenal” Scene Partner
Kelly delivers a standout performance opposite Morgan in Episode 5, “I’m a Witness to the Sickness.”

Rob, for you, I wanted to focus on Episode 5 because I’m kind of obsessed with Jackson Kelly. It’s not easy to be an actor who joins a main ensemble five episodes in and must make such a big impression, which he very much does. What was the first moment you two shared, either on set or in prep, that made you look at him and go, “Damn, you are the perfect scene partner for me with this?”

MORGAN: Man, Action Jackson Kelly. You know what I mean? Just calling him that connected us. But when we first got on set was when we first started bonding through the material because that’s how it was written. We were pretty much strangers to each other. Jackson — I call him Action — is a method guy, too. So we pretty much say, “Hey, good to see you. Alright, you ready to work? Okay, cool.” And then, “Action!” And that’s when we were like, “Hey!” And I think it worked. After we did a couple of scenes together, then we’d sit on set and play a couple of chess games with each other. I think both of us were perfectly cast for that for our own personal, how we carry ourselves in the work. Because I respected it and knew exactly what he was doing, and I think he knew I felt the same thing.

Then, when we came on set and actually worked, that was the first time we actually started talking to each other, was for that scene in the bar. That was actually my first scene of the whole shoot, and that was my first time interacting with Jackson. We didn’t really communicate until we got on set to do the work. Then afterward, after our first couple scenes together, that’s when we started, like, “Hey man, I like you.” “I like you, too.” That’s pretty much how it was with Action.

I’ll ask one more question about him and open it up to both of you, Ian and Rob. I don’t want to imply that he’s new to the business — he’s had a lot of experience — but a role like this left me thinking, “You deserve more lead roles,” and I have a feeling he’s going to get them. What is something about him as a collaborator that you’re excited for more showrunners and actors to experience when they work with him on future projects?

MORGAN: I’m looking forward to working with him again. Just sign me up, I’m there. Phenomenal talent, phenomenal guy inside and out, very connected, very rooted in the world, very committed to giving the character a real human voice. So, anytime Action Jackson is on the sheet, we ready to play. [Laughs]

MCCULLOCH: Jackson’s an actor’s actor. He takes it very, very seriously. A lot of actors auditioned for the part, and there were a lot of really good actors, and Jackson did something, which I don’t advise everybody to do this, but he did the scenes, he’s in a basement, he’s bloody. He shot his own audition, and he’s in a basement, and he’s bloody. He went the extra mile, and that could backfire in so many ways, but the second I saw it, I was like, “Oh, that’s our guy. That’s him.” He’s honest in his acting, but also he just breaks your heart every second, and that’s what you need in that character.

‘Teacup’ Season 2 Is a Mystery … Even to the Creator!
Image via Peacock

I’m gonna end with one kind of greedy question for you, Ian, because you’ve already brought up hopes for a second season. I know when you pitch a show, you often have a series-long road map, so do you have an ideal amount of seasons for Teacup that you think would best serve the story you want to tell overall?

MCCULLOCH: This is what I’m gonna say: absolutely not.

I respect that!

MCCULLOCH: I can’t wait to see what happens, as well, because I know some things, but there are so many things I don’t know, and that’s exciting.

The final two episodes of Teacup drop on October 31. Stay tuned to Collider for more Fantastic Fest coverage from Perri!

Trapped on a farm in rural Georgia, a group of neighbors must put aside their differences and unite in the face of a mysterious and deadly threat.Creator(s) Ian McCulloch Directors E.L. Katz

Watch on Peacock