The 'Sweetpea' Trailer Will Terrify You More Than 'Yellowjackets'

Starz is one of the few standalone streaming apps for a small-time cable channel that is still chugging along under the radar despite not having a larger parent company subsidizing it. (Lionsgate owned it until recently, but the company divested itself from the Starz network and app in the spring of 2024.) In most cases, that would have left the streaming service on life support. However, Starz has found a pair of niche, underserved audiences to help keep it afloat: Black viewers, who flock to its Powerbook franchise, and Anglophiles, who still tune in in droves when a period costume drama like Outlander or The Serpent Queen get served up.

That's what makes Starz's recent acquisition of Sweetpea so interesting. A contemporary comedy-horror series from Sky Atlantic, the show doesn't fit either niche. Instead, it aims to bring those two niches together in something that might appeal to both. Based on the novel by CJ Skuse, the series stars Ella Purnell, who broke big with Yellowjackets, and Nicôle Lecky, a Black British singer/songwriter, whose series Mood put her on the forefront of the BBC's diverse talents.

Unlike some of Starz's other British acquisitions, Sweetpea has not yet aired on either side of the pond, instead arriving on the same day-and-date on Sky and NOW TV in the U.K. and Starz in the U.S. It speaks highly of how much Starz believes in the show that it invested in it without first roadtesting it for British audiences; now, let's just hope Americans notice the series and tune in.

Here's the series' description. 

Rhiannon Lewis doesn’t make much of an impression. People walk past her in the street without a second glance. She’s continually overlooked for a promotion at work, the guy she likes won’t commit, and her dad is really, really sick. Then everything in her life turns upside down. Rhiannon is pushed over the edge and loses control. Suddenly the wallflower is gone, and in its place is a young woman capable of anything… Rhiannon’s life transforms as she steps into a new, intoxicating power, but can she keep her killer secret?”

Alongside Purnell, the series stars Nicole Lecky (Mood), Jon Pointing (Queenie), Calam Lynch (Archie), Leah Harvey (A Gentleman in Moscow), Jeremy Swift (Ted Lasso), and Dustin Demri-Burns (Slow Horses). Sweatpea is adapted for television by Kirstie Swain (Pure), alongside Krissie Ducker (Killing Eve), Laura Jayne Tunbridge, and Selina Lim (Sex Education), with Ella Jones (Back To Life) directing. Purnell, Swain, and Jones also serve as executive producers, alongside Manpreet Dosanjh for Sky Studios and Helen Gregory, Iain Canning, and Emile Sherman for See-Saw Films. Zornana Piggot is the series producer. 

Sweetpea is set to premiere on Starz on Thursday, October 10, 2024, at 12:01 a.m. ET on the Starz app and  8 p.m. ET on linear. The series will then move to a weekly release schedule with Episode 2 on Friday, October 18, 2024, with new episodes arriving on Fridays through mid-November.