Nikolaj Coster-Waldau will star in The Black Tapes, a new supernatural horror television series greenlit by streaming platforms Prime Video and MGM+.
The eight-episode production adapts the popular supernatural audio podcast of the same name, pitting a skeptical psychiatrist and an obsessive researcher against an apocalyptic conspiracy that reaches across all layers of power and society.
Coster-Waldau, the Danish actor widely recognized for playing Jaime Lannister across eight seasons of the HBO fantasy series Game of Thrones, will portray Doctor Richard Strand. Strand is a brilliant psychiatrist with a shadowy past who dedicates his career to debunking alleged paranormal phenomena.
Cast and Characters
Strand is joined in his investigations by scientist Alex Regan. While Strand searches for grounded and rational explanations for anomalous occurrences, Regan is driven by an obsession with unexplained phenomena and remains determined to follow each inquiry to its conclusion.
Their partnership establishes a classic tension between strict empirical science and supernatural belief. The friction between Strand's skepticism and Regan's relentless curiosity drives their joint examination of cases that challenge conventional scientific explanations.
The Black Tapes Mystery and Plot
Across the season, the duo investigates apparitions, demonic possessions, mysterious disappearances, and sinister urban legends. Each case links back to a series of unreleased recordings known as the black tapes, which give the production its title.
What begins as a clinical effort to disprove ghostly occurrences eventually leads the pair to uncover a hidden world that exists behind daily reality. Behind the disparate sightings and phenomena lies an apocalyptic conspiracy that has been taking shape across centuries, quietly influencing modern institutions.
The premise positions The Black Tapes as an heir to the investigative tone of The X-Files, the landmark 1990s television drama created by Chris Carter that paired FBI agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully to investigate paranormal phenomena. The announcement comes as television executives also track progress on a separate X-Files reboot from director Ryan Coogler, which secured a full series order after producers approved its pilot episode.
Podcast Origins and Executive Producers
The Black Tapes originated in 2015 as a serialized fiction podcast created by Terry Miles and Paul Bae. Produced in the format of an investigative radio documentary, the audio series quickly established a dedicated audience and has registered more than 60 million downloads worldwide.
Miles and Bae are writing the television adaptation and will serve as executive producers on the project. They will work alongside executive producers Kearie Peak, Jennifer Court, and John Rogers, the veteran television writer and showrunner known for series including Leverage and The Librarians.
Filming Schedule and Release Details
Filming is scheduled to commence in January 2027 in Vancouver. The Canadian city has long served as a major production hub for supernatural and science fiction television, having previously hosted the original Pacific Northwest location shoots for The X-Files during its initial seasons.
MGM+, the premium network and streaming hub owned by Amazon following its purchase of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, has not yet set a formal broadcast date. The company has confirmed that the eight-part series will stream on Prime Video and MGM+ across the United States, the United Kingdom, Spain, and additional European and Latin American markets.
