NOS4A2 follows Victoria "Vic" McQueen, a young working-class artist who discovers that she has a supernatural ability to track the seemingly immortal Charlie Manx. Manx feeds off the souls of children, then deposits what remains of them into Christmasland—a twisted Christmas Village of Manx's imagination where every day is Christmas Day and unhappiness is against the law. Vic must strive to defeat Manx and rescue his victims—without losing her mind or falling victim to him herself."
The complete season became available on June 2, 2019, via AMC's on-demand service, AMC Premiere.
Season 2 (2020)
Production
Development
On December 8, 2015, it was announced that AMC had put a television series adaptation of Joe Hill's novel NOS4A2 into development. It was reported that a search was underway for a writer to pen the adaptation. Production companies involved in the series were set to include The Tornante Company and AMC Studios. On May 31, 2017, it was announced that AMC had opened a writers room for the series. Jami O'Brien leads the writers room and executive produces alongside Hill. On April 10, 2018, it was announced that AMC had given the production a series order for a first season consisting of ten episodes. Additionally, it was reported that O'Brien would serve as showrunner and that Lauren Corrao would be an executive producer. On March 30, 2019, it was announced that the series would premiere on June 2, 2019. On July 20, 2019, while at San Diego Comic-Con it was announced that AMC had renewed the series for a second season which premiered on June 21, 2020.
Casting
On June 27, 2018, it was announced that Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, Virginia Kull, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach had been cast in main roles. On July 5, 2018, it was reported that Jahkara Smith had joined the cast in a recurring capacity. On August 28, 2018, it was announced that Karen Pittman had been cast in a recurring role. On September 13, 2018, it was reported that Zachary Quinto and Ashleigh Cummings had been cast in the series' two lead roles of Charlie Manx and Vic McQueen, respectively. On October 12, 2018, it was announced that Rarmian Newton and Darby Camp had joined the cast in a recurring capacity. On December 17, 2018, it was reported that Ashley Romans would appear in a recurring role.
Release
Marketing
On December 20, 2018, a promotional image from the series was released featuring Zachary Quinto in character as Charlie Manx.
Premiere
The series held its world premiere during the 2019 South by Southwest film festival in Austin, Texas, in March 2019, as a part of the festival's "Episodic Premieres" series of screenings. The first episode premiered on AMC on June 2, 2019. While AMC broadcast the episodes over a nine-week period, it made the entire series available for online streaming immediately on its AMC Premiere platform.
Reception
Critical response
For the first season, review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 68% approval rating with an average score of 6.6/10, based on 28 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "Though Nos4a2 strains to build the necessary atmosphere to pull off its ambitious premise, it does capture the spirit of Joe Hill's singular work and provides a new psychopath for Zachary Quinto to sink his teeth into." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 47 out of 100 based on nine critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". For the second season, review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 80% approval rating with an average score of 6.67/10, based on 5 reviews.
