Damien follows the adult life of Damien Thorn, the mysterious child from the 1976 motion picture The Omen who has grown up seemingly unaware of the satanic forces around him. Haunted by his past, Damien must now come to terms with his true destiny — that he is the Antichrist.
Barbara Hershey stars as Ann Rutledge, the world’s most powerful woman who has been tasked with making sure Damien fulfils his destiny. Omid Abtahi portrays Amani Golkar, a close colleague of Damien’s whose fierce loyalty will be tested when he realizes who his brother-in-arms actually is, while Meganlyn Echikunwoke plays Simone Baptiste, a woman whose life is thrown into turmoil when tragedy unexpectedly strikes.
Why we’re looking forward to this: The Omen is one of our favourite films of all time here at This Is Horror, the 1976 version starring Gregory Peck and Lee Remick, that is, rather than the abysmal 2006 remake, and it’s this original film that is the jump off point for Damien, the upcoming Bates Motel-esque story of the young antichrist.
Despite the trailer including scenes from the seminal original film, exactly how Damien fits into canon, if indeed it does at all, is not clear, as Bradley James who is portraying a thirty-something beast incarnate is seemingly unaware of his legacy (unlike the teenager in Damien: Omen II) but this doesn’t really matter if we’re going to get a drama that’s even half as good as Bates Motel (itself back for a fourth season very soon).
James is suitably imposing yet approachable as Damien Thorn, and given that we were initially sceptical of both Hannibal and Bates Motel in being able to find enough suitable material to sustain multiple seasons about our favourite young psychopaths but were proved very wrong, and were very pleased to have to stand corrected, we’re optimistic and very much looking forward to seeing what Damien brings when it debuts in March.
Damien rises in the US on 9 March on the A&E network and will hopefully hit UK screens shortly thereafter.
RICHARD COSGROVE
