Entertainment

'The Mist' Welcomes A Hollywood Newcomer

by Laura Broman

Last year, Freeform's Dead of Summer served up the creepy summertime chills. This year, it's Spike's promising new horror series The Mist, inspired by the Stephen King novella of the same name. It's about a small town suddenly enveloped in a thick mist in which savage monsters are hidden. If you're excited to start watching, you may be curious about what actors and actresses you're going to see. If you want to know more about who plays Jay Heisel on The Mist, your answer's here. Actor Luke Cosgrove is almost brand-new to Hollywood, having up until this point only been in a few short films.

The young Australian plays Jay, a popular jock and son of the town sheriff who starts off the series by being suspected of sexually assaulting Alex, another main character. If that doesn't exactly sound like the world's nicest guy, Cosgrove is keeping Jay's character somewhat ambiguous for now, as he explains in a character profile he did with Spike:

He wants to sort of break away from that jock stereotype... with the town thinking about what he's done, when the mist comes he sees it as an opportunity to change what people think about him. He's constantly trying to gain that respect back from people He's afraid of being the outcast.

In an interview with Digital Journal, Cosgrove said: "the initial feeling was quite overwhelming knowing I would go to set each day and work with a highly dedicated, talented ensemble cast. It was such a big learning curve for me, the overall experience was highly invaluable."

This isn't the first adaptation of Stephen King's 1980 novella, of course. A movie was also made in 2007, which was a critical and commercial success. But since it's not as easy to adapt a short novella into a television series, showrunners have confirmed that things are going to be a little different this time around. The Mist executive producer Christian Torpe told TVGuide.com it will be a "weird, twisted cousin of the original source material."

While the novella basically just follows characters locked in a supermarket by the mist, the television series will follow several different characters' experiences around town. Cosgrove's character, Jay, will be among those trapped in a shopping mall as the mist descends. There will be an entirely new cast of characters, though the creepy small-town Maine setting that's characteristic of King will be the same. All-in-all, it looks to be a spine-tingling good time. Look out for Luke Cosgrove making his small-screen debut come June 22.

The Mist will premiere on June 22 at 10 p.m. ET on Spike.