Maybe you’re watching Peacock’s Hysteria! and twitching on the verge of recollection: WHO is that familiar face screaming on your TV screen? The new horror-thriller series from Matthew Scott Kane not only delves into the Satanic Panic of the ’80s with a fresh murder mystery to unearth but also boasts an ensemble cast studded with genre luminaries.
So whether you’re a die-hard Deadite, an appreciator of elevated horror, or new to scary movies, here’s a guide to where you’ve seen the cast of Hysteria! before.
What to watch: Best scary movies
Emjay Anthony
Credit: Mark Hill/Peacock
Hysteria!’s plotline features a variety of characters, from the pestered police chief and the fretful Christian girl to the queen bee obsessed with Satan. At its emotional center is long-ignored misfit Dylan Campbell, whose last name is a nod to the show’s most legendary horror star, Bruce Campbell. When a local beloved jock turns up ritualistically murdered, Dylan finds an unlikely path to popularity by pretending to be a Satanist — and a way to promote his heavy metal band to boot!
In pursuit of his devilish dream girl Judith (Jessica Treska), Dylan puts his whole family at risk. This is similar to the plotline of Anthony’s most memorable horror role, Krampus. In this Yuletide horror, a young Anthony played a little boy so fed up with his family’s in-fighting that he makes a terrible Christmas wish. Everything from snowmen and gingerbread cookies to holiday ornaments become deadly threats in this over-the-top treat from writer/director Michael Dougherty.
The cast of ‘Hysteria!’ on what makes a society go hysterical
Julie Bowen
Credit: Mark Hill / Peacock
Mostly known as Claire Dunphy on the long-running sitcom Modern Family, Bowen has dipped into her dark side since the series finale in 2020. Just last year she starred opposite Chilling Adventures of Sabrina‘s Kiernan Shipka in the time-traveling slasher-comedy Totally Killer.
Now as Hysteria!’s Linda Campbell, she’s playing a mom who’s plagued by paranormal threats, unexplained blisters, and fears that her son could be a killer Satanist.
Bruce Campbell
Credit: Mark Hill / Peacock
Long before Campbell lent his world-weary swagger to Hysteria!’s no-nonsense Chief Dandridge, he made his first major mark on horror as the lead in Sam Raimi’s grimy classic Evil Dead. As the hard-to-kill everyman (who sometimes has a chainsaw for an arm), Campbell’s scream king Ash returned in the sequels Evil Dead II, Army of Darkness, and the spinoff series Ash vs Evil Dead.
This self-proclaimed B-movie actor has gone on to appear in a slew of movies and TV shows, including the spy drama Burn Notice and the Elvis Presley-centered mummy romp Bubba Ho-Tep. Superhero movie fans might recognize his trademark chin from his cameos in other Raimi offerings, like all three Tobey Maguire-fronted Spider-Man movies, plus Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
Milly Shapiro
As Dylan and his friends build their cult to cater to Judith’s desires, they rope in “goat girl” aka Ingrid, a farmer’s daughter who has no embarrassment about her animal buddies. If you looked at this lovable outcast and thought for sure you’ve seen her before, perhaps you’re thinking of Hereditary? Yup. The 22-year-old Shapiro is all grown up now. But back in 2018, the Broadway baby who headlined Matilda the Musical scared the bejesus out of audiences as Charlie, the strange, seemingly haunted girl in writer/director Ari Aster’s disturbing feature-length debut.
Coincidentally, both Shapiro and Anthony’s breakout horror roles were in movies where Toni Collette played their mom! And — uh — without spoilers, that didn’t bode well for either family.
Garret Dillahunt
This prolific actor is introduced on Hysteria! by voice alone. But as a fan of the critically heralded Western drama Deadwood and the wacky sitcom Raising Hope, I know the voice of Garret Dillahunt when I hear it! To me, he’s best known in the double role of the cowardly killer Jack McCall and the suave but villainous Francis Wolcott or the lovable himbo Burt Chance. However, Walking Dead fans will know him as Fear The Walking Dead‘s former cop turned rugged survivor John Dorie, while others may recognize him from his offbeat role as Dr. Jody Kimball-Kinney in The Mindy Project.
With Dillahunt regularly showing all kinds of range in his TV roles, from lovable to harrowing, his presence on Hysteria! is exciting exactly because it’s hard to predict where his mysterious Reverend may land by season’s end.
Anna Camp
Credit: Mark Hill / Peacock
Maybe she’s best known as Barden Bellas leader Aubrey Posen in Pitch Perfect, but Anna Camp is no stranger to serial horror. Back in 2009, she sunk her teeth into HBO’s True Blood, a sexy soap opera inspired by Charlaine Harris’ Southern Vampire Mysteries. In that long-running series, she played a perky but menacing televangelist’s wife named Sarah Newlin. In Hysteria!, she’s back in the habit (as it were) as Tracy Whitehead, a fiercely religious mother whose view on faith and parenthood are flat-out scary.
Chiara Aurelia
Credit: Mark Hill / Peacock
Did you pick out this one? In Hysteria!, Chiara Aurelia brings a snarling wit and big heart to goth girl Jordy, best friend of the embattled Dylan. But back in Fear Street Part Two: 1978, this actress played a mean teen in the summer camp slasher. As pretty and popular camper Sheila Watson, Aurelia bullied and even burned Shadysider Ziggy (Stranger Things‘ Sadie Sink). This time around, she’s using her sneer for good, scaring off the cool kids whose peer pressure could actually get her friends killed.
Jamie Flanagan
Credit: Mark Hill / Peacock
The sibling of horror auteur Mike Flanagan, Jamie has appeared in small roles in several of their brother’s movies, including Absentia, Oculus, Gerald’s Game, and Doctor Sleep. As a writer, they’ve also had a hand in Mike’s Netflix series, with credits on The Haunting of Bly Manor, Midnight Mass, The Midnight Club, and The Fall of the House of Usher.
Where you’ve seen ‘The House of Usher’ cast before: Welcome to the Flanaverse
Jamie Flanagan pulls double duty on Hysteria!, not only as a screenwriter on Season 1 but also as the mild-mannered Father Mathis.
Nikki Hahn
Credit: Mark Hill / Peacock
Before she was the tormented Christian teen Faith Whitehead on Hysteria!, Nikki Hahn played a creepy kid on the second season of American Horror Story. In American Horror Story: Asylum, Hahn appeared as little Jenny Reynolds, whose girlish pigtails and angel face hid a murderous past. Will Faith prove to be a bad seed like Jenny? Hysteria!’s finale may have the answer.
Any other horror-casting connections you can find in Hysteria!? Sound off in comments.
Hysteria! is now streaming on Peacock.
