“I felt like it’s the greatest show of all time,” Peele says.
“We were tentative to step in.
There are many ways to fail at this.”
The episodes were frequently morality tales, and Serling pushed the envelope to make allegorical points about hot-button issues.
Serling tackled racism, McCarthyism, conformity, free speech, the Holocaust and more.
“He would tell stories that explored character and a character’s tragic flaws,” Peele says.
“And he would craft a custom-made nightmare for those people.
He would place reveals strategically throughout an episode.
And he would use the show to Trojan-horse commentary and social messaging through entertainment.”
Not all the episodes impart some broad societal message.
“I was terrified when they first asked me,” Nanjiani says.
“I loved the show so much, but it’s an iconic thing to take on.
Jordan was like, ‘You’re perfect.
You have to do it.’
He gave me the confidence to go ahead.”
Peele brings more of an ironic wink to the audience and some clever techniques for his narration segments.
(In “Nightmare,” he appears on the in-flight TV screens.)
But you only live oncelet’s attempt to hostThe Twilight Zone."
Not all the formatting decisions involved weighing the new version ofThe Twilight Zoneagainst its iconic past, however.
To me,Twilight Zone, no matter how dark the episode, is ultimately optimistic about humanity."
And nowadays, that kind of optimism alone is a surprise twist.
Here’s the new trailer:
