Raised by Wolves Premieres Disorienting First Trailer

Remember how pleasantly disorienting it was to watch the final 15 minutes of 2001: A Space Odyssey for the first time? Well, if you ever want to experience that level of intriguing confusion again, the first trailer for Raised by Wolves is a great start. 

HBO Max today unveiled a first trailer for Raised by Wolves, a sci-fi project developed by prolific sci-fi director Ridley Scott. Watch the trailer below and meet us on the other side to try to make sense of…well, anything. 

To be fair, there is plenty of helpful exposition in that trailer. A character voiceover says that “The Earth was destroyed by a great war. I was programmed to protect. And now we start again.” Then that’s followed up with the fable of the Three Little Pigs. Still, that grounding material still confounds in the light of the truly wild visuals at play. This thing has it all: weird children assembled in weird spirals, devastated extraterrestrial landscapes, and more creepy androids than a Philip K. Dick electric sheep dream.

Per HBO Max’s official plot description: “Raised by Wolves centers on two androids tasked with raising human children on a mysterious virgin planet. As the burgeoning colony of humans threatens to be torn apart by religious differences, the androids learn that controlling the beliefs of humans is a treacherous and difficult task.”

Raised by Wolves is set to premiere on HBO Max on Thursday, September 3. The series is billed as Ridley Scott’s television directorial debut for American audiences, with the director having previously helmed shows like The Informer and Half Hour Story for British television. Scott is best known as the visionary sci-fi director behind classic films such as Alien, Blade Runner, and The Martian. Scott produces this series and serves as director for the first two episodes. The show was created by  Aaron Guzikowski. David W. Zucker (The Man in the High Castle), Jordan Sheehan (The Terror), Adam Kolbrenner (Prisoners) and Mark Huffam (The Martian) all serve as executive producers as well. 

The cast includes Amanda Collin (A Conspiracy of Faith), Abubakar Salim (Fortitude), Winta McGrath (Aloft), Niamh Algar (The Virtues), Jordan Loughran (The Infiltrator), Matias Varela (Narcos), Felix Jamieson (Game of Thrones), Ethan Hazzard (The Long Song), Aasiya Shah (Call the Midwife) Ivy Wong (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story) and Travis Fimmel (Vikings). 

Raised by Wolves was among the first original streaming series announced for WarnerMedia’s fledgling streaming service HBO Max. Upcoming titles include The Flight Attendant and Americanah.