Lovecraft Country

Sci-fi surge propels streamers and HBO

For fantasy fans, this is a time of plenty.
Most movie theaters may be closed, but our TV sets and computers have big stories, big ideas and, especially, big budgets.
Misha Green, a showrunner, can attest to that. Her previous series, for basic-cable, was about the Underground Railroad; her current one – “Lovecraft Country” (shown here), starting 9 p.m. Aug. 16 on HBO – also has racial themes, but puts them alongside big-deal monster stories.
The budget difference, she told the Television Critics Association, is huge. “One episode of this show is maybe five of ‘Underground.’”
From “Umbrella Academy” to “Utopia,” the TCA this week saw lots of big-budget science-fiction, Could this be a golden age for fantasy and sci-fi on TV and streaming? “I would say that’s absolutely true,” said Aaron Guzikowski, whose “Raised By Wolves” arrives next month on HBO Max. Read more…