Hudson Williams Carrie-Anne Moss 'Yaga' Series premieres at TIFF

Key Points:

• Canadian streamer Crave is launching “Yaga,” a horror mystery series inspired by Slavic folklore about Baba Yaga, focusing on the search for a missing local in a small coastal town, with the first two episodes premiering at the Toronto film festival.
• The series stars Hudson Williams, Carrie-Anne Moss, Noah Reid, and Clark Backo, and was filmed over 32 days on Vancouver Island; it follows a PI and a local detective investigating the disappearance of a fishery heir, with a mysterious university professor among the suspects.
• Created by Kat Sandler, who adapted the series from her 2019 stage play, “Yaga” explores themes of female empowerment, aging, and sexuality, featuring witchy monologues delivered by Moss, who was instrumental in bringing the project to fruition.
• Sandler, a Toronto native and theater veteran, is also mentoring emerging Canadian series creators through TIFF’s Series Creators’ Lab, emphasizing the importance of theater in developing storytelling skills and connecting with audiences through comedy and horror.
• Produced by Blink49 Studios and Front Street Media, “Yaga” has been sold internationally to AMC+ (U.S.), Sky (UK, Ireland, New Zealand), HBO Max (Europe), and Foxtel (Australia), with distribution planned as eight half-hour episodes or four hour-long installments.