“Archive 81” kickstarted film production in Pittsburgh after everything shut down in the early days of the pandemic. Now, we finally know when we’ll all be able to check out the final product.
Netflix revealed Tuesday that the first season of “Archive 81,” which took inspiration from the found-footage horror podcast of the same name, will drop on Jan. 14. The streaming service also unveiled the first batch of images showing the “Archive 81” cast in action.
ARCHIVE 81 - January 14, 2022
— Netflix Geeked (@NetflixGeeked) November 30, 2021
Archive 81 is a supernatural horror series following archivist Dan Turner as he reconstructs the work of a documentary filmmaker and becomes obsessed with saving her from a fate she met 25 years ago. Take a first look at the series. pic.twitter.com/jzFO8Untz2
The series follows archivist Dan Turner (Mamoudou Athie), who takes a job restoring a collection of damaged videotapes from 1994, according to the show’s plot description on Netflix’s press site. “Reconstructing the work of a documentary filmmaker named Melody Pendras (Dina Shihabi), he is drawn into her investigation of a dangerous cult at the Visser apartment building.
“As the season unfolds across these two timelines, Dan slowly finds himself obsessed with uncovering what happened to Melody. When the two characters form a mysterious connection, Dan becomes convinced he can save her from the terrifying end she met 25 years ago.”
The series comes from, among others, showrunner Rebecca Sonnenshine and executive producer James Wan, who directed the horror flicks “Insidious” and “The Conjuring.” The main cast also includes Matt McGorry, Martin Donovan, Ariana Neal, Julia Chan and Evan Jonigkeit.
It was “Archive 81” along with fellow Netflix series “The Chair” that brought film and television production back to Western Pennsylvania. The crew was seen filming episodes on multiple occasions in fall 2020 and winter 2021 before production wrapped in March.
Netflix currently has two other projects filming in the region: the Bayard Rustin biopic “Rustin” and the Christian Bale murder mystery “The Pale Blue Eye.”
Joshua Axelrod: jaxelrod@post-gazette.com and Twitter @jaxelburgh.
First Published: November 30, 2021, 10:45 p.m.
