The First Trailer for 'Passenger' is a Headscratcher

It's been a while since American viewers heard anything about ITVX's Passenger (not to be confused with the Channel 4 series Passengers, which ended in the mid-aughts), confirmed in August 2023 to be debuting stateside on BritBox. ITVX included it in the end-of-year look ahead for 2024, confirming the series' debut was coming in the first half of the year. However, other than that, news has been pretty silent on the subject, almost as silent as the forest featured in the first trailer for the series, which is heavy on the dark thriller and light on the comedy.

The horror vibe of the trailer is actually more in keeping with the show's original 2022 announcement when ITV revealed it had picked up the series from its debut script by actor-turned-screenwriter Andrew Buchan, best known in the U.S. for his turn in Broadchurch. Passengers' synopsis feels a bit Broadchurch-esque: small, close-knit town, lots of secrets, former London Met cop looking for redemption in solving a crime. However, when BritBox confirmed the series would stream stateside, with Wunmi Mosaku (Luther) as the series lead, retired detective Riya Ajunwa, and Rowan Robinson (So Awkward) as victim Katie Wells, the press release played up the "dark comedy" aspect of the show.

The trailer definitely has the dark part of that down. (Like so many prestige shows, there are times when you just want to yell at someone to turn on the lights so you can see what's happening on screen, for god's sake.) But other than maybe offering the passenger off the title a biscuit, there's not much funny happening here... unless by "funny," you mean "scary as all get out."