Sosie Bacon Joins Nikolaj Coster-Waldau in MGM+ Horror Series 'The Black Tapes'

Sosie Bacon has landed a lead role in MGM+'s upcoming horror series "The Black Tapes," joining previously announced star Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Variety has learned. Production on the eight-episode first season begins in January in Vancouver.

The show adapts the hit horror podcast of the same name, and the premise is already public. Coster-Waldau plays Dr. Richard Strand, "a brilliant psychiatrist with a mysterious past," according to the official logline. He teams with Bacon's character, "the obsessed, relentless scientist Alex Regan," to debunk paranormal cases of hauntings, possessions, disappearances, and sinister legends — the infamous black tapes of the title.

The logline doesn't stop at monster-of-the-week territory. As Strand and Regan unravel the secrets of these events, "they uncover a hidden occult world behind our own and must unravel a centuries-old apocalyptic conspiracy."

Who is Alex Regan?

The character description gives a strong hint about the show's engine. Regan is "a brilliant, methodical physicist who joins the investigation of The Black Tapes as a debunker, but quickly finds her very scientific training means she can't ignore the mounting evidence that these mysteries involve something beyond the natural world."

That's a classic skeptic-forced-to-believe arc — the same structural tension that powered "The X-Files." Casting Bacon, whose recent career runs heavily toward horror, suggests MGM+ wants Regan to be the audience's anchor as the cases escalate.

What does this change for the series?

Practically, it completes the two-hander at the show's center. Coster-Waldau's casting was announced first; without a co-lead, production in January would have been difficult. Bacon's deal locks in the central partnership, and her genre track record — she led the 2022 hit "Smile" and returned for "Smile 2" — signals MGM+ is leaning into horror credibility rather than star novelty.

Bacon recently wrapped filming on Season 2 of "Scarpetta" for Amazon. Her television credits include "Mare of Easttown," "Narcos: Mexico," and "13 Reasons Why." On the film side, beyond the two "Smile" features, she will next appear in the horror-comedy "Family Movie," directed by and starring her parents, Kyra Sedgwick and Kevin Bacon, along with other family members. She is repped by Gersh, Range Media Partners, and Schreck Rose.

Who is making it?

Terry Miles and Paul Bae, who created the original podcast, return as writers and executive producers on the series. The executive producer roster also includes:

• Kearie Peak of Peak Pictures
• John Rogers and Jennifer Court of Kung Fu Monkey Productions

MGM+ Studios produces.

With creators of the source material steering the adaptation and a January start date in Vancouver, the series now has its full central pairing — and a clear path from podcast phenomenon to scripted horror franchise for MGM+.