Think twice before you call it horror, advises Black.
Cinemax: How does Outcast twist the concept of possession?
Chris Black: I think there are two approaches to that question. One is, we hope our ultimate mythology will be surprising to people. Although what you see on the screen will be recognizable to fans of this genre, we hope it will be surprising when we reveal that it’s not really coming from the place you expect. I hope it’s not just one big twist that people will be excited about, but an unfolding series of revelations and surprises.
As for the other part, Robert [Kirkman, series creator] has always said that he doesn’t want this to be a horror show. It will be part of this world, but what Robert has always maintained is this is not a horror show with characters, it’s a character show with horror.
There will be entire episodes of the show that will have very little genre components to it. We hope it will always be suspenseful, surprising, scary and engaging in that way, but the monsters and demons in our world are not always going to come from a supernatural place. It’s not an exorcism-of-the-week show. That it’s not the engine that drives our story, is what makes it a different kind of scary show.
Cinemax: Why did you choose Chester, South Carolina as the shooting location?
Chris Black: It started with Robert’s script and the world that Robert created of Rome, West Virginia. We’re not going to shoot it in Los Angeles because it needs a specific look. Places like Chester and York, where our police station, the Reverend’s church and Megan’s house are, almost don’t need to be art directed. You just pull up and it’s like, “Oh my god, here we are.”