'Sanctuary: A Witch's Tale' Will Bring a Modern Day Witch Hunt to Sundance Now

Sadly, witch hunts never seem to go out of style. Humanity has been obsessed with rooting out evidence of witchcraft --- and punishing women who were deemed to be too different or too powerful for society’s liking --- for hundreds of years, and well before the infamous trials in Salem that are nowadays synonymous with the phenomenon. But Sundance Now’s latest series attempts to turn the idea on its head, telling the story of a society in which witchcraft is not something hidden but something that people are still too quickly driven to fear all the same.

Based on the bestselling V.V. James mystery thriller, Sanctuary: A Witch’s Tale is set in a contemporary world where witchcraft is real. It takes place in the idyllic English town of Sanctuary, where, for hundreds of years, witches have lived peacefully as valued members of society. At least it did. Until the town’s “local witch” finds herself in the center of a murder case.

At the heart of the story is Sarah Fenn, Sanctuary’s resident witch, a woman on whom the town relies to solve their problems when conventional remedies have failed. But when local teen rugby star Dan Whithall dies tragically in what appears to be an unfortunate accident, his death exposes a terrifying undercurrent of suspicion and fear toward Sarah and her teenage daughter, Harper. Abigail, the mother of the dead boy and once Sarah’s closest friend, is wracked with grief, and to avenge her son’s death, launches a modern-day witch-hunt to get “justice,” no matter what the cost.