The Lovecraft Country season finale will air on Sunday, October 18. Misha Green’s genre-bending horror-drama, adventure-thriller television series is an afro-futuristic story about magic, time travel, and generational trauma set in the racially segregated America of the 1950s.
HBO is celebrating season one of Lovecraft Country with a first-of-its-kind social virtual reality experience known as Lovecraft Country: Sanctum. Grammy-nominated R&B/Soul/Pop vocalist Janelle Monáe will present her first-ever VR performance as part of a special “Music of the Cosmos Concert” connected to the show.
“I’m so excited to partner with HBO and The Mill to pioneer the future of concert experiences in Sanctum,” said Monáe. “I always strive for innovation, and this project gives me the special opportunity to celebrate Lovecraft Country, a show I’m a huge fan of, and connect with fans in a completely new way using virtual reality. This is the perfect platform to explore the impact of music and movement in a new dimension designed to celebrate Black art, stories, and voices.”
Lovecraft Country: Sanctum will stream on YouTube Live and the social VR platform VRChat. Viewers will also be invited into The Reliquary, a mystery room hosted by Lovecraft Country’s Michael Kenneth Williams (Montrose Freeman) which will feature artifacts from the television program as well as a virtual experience with accompanying audio snippets narrated by Williams.
“As long-standing fans, we couldn’t be more thrilled to be partnering with Janelle Monáe on this uniquely immersive virtual reality concert experience,” said Dana Flax, VP of Program Marketing at HBO. “Through her art and her activism, Janelle embodies the spirit of innovation, justice, and Black joy that makes her the perfect artist to help us send off Lovecraft Country’s first season.”
Previous Lovecraft Country: Sanctum events featured an art show by David Alabo, Devan Shimoyama, and Adeyemi Adegbesan as well as a theatrical performance inspired by the words of James Baldwin which was adapted by Lovecraft Country writer Shannon Houston and performed by Lovecraft Country leading actress Jurnee Smollett (Letitia “Leti” Lewis) with voiceover performances by Lovecraft Country stars Jonathan Majors (Atticus “Tic” Freeman), Courtney B. Vance (George Freeman), and Michael K. Williams.
“Our third and final event ‘Music of the Cosmos’ ends Lovecraft Country: Sanctum with a celebration of the series. Inspired by the ‘50s Chicago block party featured in the first episode of Lovecraft Country, the final experience takes you to a block party set in a virtual world,” said Aline Ridolfi, Lovecraft Experience Director. “Using techniques like projection mapping and dynamic, interactive set design, the concert will see Janelle control the space with her performance. All aspects of the environment from the choreography and set design, to the lighting, will interact in a way that wouldn’t be possible within a traditional concert set-up.”
Lovecraft Country, which is based on Matt Ruff’s 2016 novel of the same name, was developed by Misha Green (Underground). J.J Abrams (Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Westworld) and Jordan Peele (Get Out, Us) are credited as executive producers. The cast also includes Aunjanue Ellis, Wunmi Mosaku, Abbey Lee, Jamie Chung, Jada Harris, and Jordan Patrick Smith.
Janelle Monáe x Lovecraft Country: Sanctum VR’s “Music of the Cosmos Concert” is scheduled for Monday, October 19 at 10 pm ET/ 7 pm PT.