Apple TV’s next dark crime thriller combines two things viewers love: serial killers and the detectives who catch them. Currently, Hulu is seeing a lot of success with its new series Furious, which follows a female serial killer. Later this month, viewers will be reintroduced to Lizzie Borden, the young woman who was accused of murdering her parents with an ax. But in Apple TV’s upcoming show, the focus is on the killer and a detective looking for peace.
The story takes place in Pennsylvania and follows Jonnah Lynn (Liev Schreiber). He has an extensive career in law enforcement, first being a soldier before shifting gears and becoming a homicide detective. But after seeing the worst of humanity in the streets of Philadelphia, Lynn decides enough is enough and moves to a small town in the western part of the state. Unknown to him, this town is also the hunting ground for Jurek Walter (Stephen Graham), a notorious serial killer. Depraved as he is cunning, Walter reigns terror on the town and Lynn’s family, forcing him to go on the defensive. Lynn finds reinforcement from FBI Agent Saga Bauer (Zazie Beetz), who is also his surrogate daughter, and together they search for Walter’s latest victim, but Lynn runs the risk of losing himself while trying to bring a monster to account.
Titled Nocturne, the series is based on Lars Kepler‘s novels Lazarus and The Sandman. John Hlavin (Shooter) developed the series for television and serves as writer, executive producer, and showrunner. Rowan Joffé (Ballad of a Small Player) created it and also writes and executive produces. Other cast members include Bill Camp (Presumed Innocent), Rory Culkin (Under the Banner of Heaven), Chrissy Metz (This Is Us), Poorna Jagannathan (Lanterns), and Gary Carr (The Peripheral). Nocturne premieres on Friday, October 30, 2026, with the first two episodes, followed by new episodes every Friday through December 25, 2026.
Collider Exclusive · Horror Survival Quiz Which Horror Villain Do You Have the Best Chance of Surviving? Jason Voorhees · Michael Myers · Freddy Krueger · Pennywise · Chucky
Five killers. Five completely different ways to die — if you’re not smart enough, fast enough, or self-aware enough to avoid it. Only one of them is the villain your particular set of instincts gives you a fighting chance against. Eight questions will figure out which one.
🏕️Jason
🔪Michael
💤Freddy
🎈Pennywise
🪆Chucky
01
Something feels wrong. You can’t explain it — you just know. What do you do? First instincts are the difference between the survivor and the first act casualty.
02
Where are you most likely to find yourself when things go wrong? Setting is everything in horror. Where you are determines which rules apply.
03
What is your most reliable survival asset? Every survivor has a quality the villain didn’t account for. What’s yours?
04
What kind of fear is hardest for you to fight through? Knowing your weakness is the first step to not dying because of it.
05
You’re with a group when things start going wrong. What’s your role? Horror movies are brutally clear about who survives group situations and who doesn’t.
06
What’s the horror movie mistake you’re most likely to make? Honest self-assessment is a survival skill. Denial is not.
07
What’s your best weapon against something that can’t be stopped by conventional means? Every horror villain has a weakness. The survivors are always the ones who find it.
08
It’s the final scene. You’re the last one standing. How did you make it? The final survivor always has a reason. What’s yours?
Your Survival Odds Have Been Calculated Your Best Chance Is Against…
Your instincts, your strengths, and your particular way of thinking under pressure point to one villain you actually have a fighting chance against. Everyone else — good luck.
Camp Crystal Lake · Friday the 13th
Jason Voorhees
Jason is relentless, but he is also predictable — and that is the gap you would exploit.
He moves in straight lines toward his target. He doesn’t strategise, doesn’t adapt, doesn’t outsmart. He simply pursues.
Your ability to keep moving, use the environment, and resist the panic that freezes most victims gives you a genuine edge.
The Crystal Lake survivors were always the ones who stopped running in circles and started thinking about terrain, water, and distance.
You think like that. Which means Jason, for all his indestructibility, would face someone who simply refused to be where he expected.
Haddonfield, Illinois · Halloween
Michael Myers
Michael watches before he moves. He is patient, methodical, and almost impossible to detect — until it’s too late for anyone who isn’t paying close enough attention.
But you are paying attention. You notice the shape in the window, the car parked slightly wrong, the silence where there should be sound.
Michael’s power lies in the invisibility of ordinary suburbia — the fact that nothing ever looks wrong until it already is.
Your spatial awareness and instinct to map every room, every exit, and every shadow before you need them is precisely the quality Laurie Strode had.
You are not a victim waiting to happen. You are someone who already suspects something is wrong — and acts on it.
Elm Street · A Nightmare on Elm Street
Freddy Krueger
Freddy wins by getting inside your head — using your own fears, your own memories, your own subconscious as weapons against you. That strategy requires a target who can be destabilised.
You are harder to destabilise than most. You’ve faced uncomfortable truths about yourself and you haven’t looked away.
The survivors on Elm Street were always the ones who understood what was happening and chose to face it rather than flee from it.
Freddy’s greatest weakness is that his power evaporates in the presence of someone who refuses to give him the fear he feeds on.
Your psychological resilience — the ability to stay grounded when reality itself becomes unreliable — is exactly the quality that keeps you alive here.
Derry, Maine · It
Pennywise
Pennywise is ancient, shapeshifting, and feeds on terror — but it has one critical vulnerability: it cannot function against someone who genuinely stops being afraid of it.
The Losers Club didn’t survive because they were braver than everyone else. They survived because they faced their fears together, and faced them honestly.
You ask the questions others avoid. You look directly at what frightens you rather than turning away.
That directness — the refusal to let fear fester in the dark — is Pennywise’s worst nightmare.
It chose the wrong target when it chose you. You are exactly the kind of person whose fear tastes like nothing at all.
Chicago · Child’s Play
Chucky
Chucky’s greatest advantage is that nobody takes him seriously until it’s already too late. He exploits the gap between how something looks and what it actually is.
You don’t have that gap. You take threats seriously regardless of how they present — and you never make the mistake of underestimating something because of its size or appearance.
Chucky relies on surprise, on the delay between recognition and response. You close that delay faster than almost anyone.
Your instinct to treat every unfamiliar thing with appropriate scepticism — rather than dismissing it because it seems absurd — is the exact quality that keeps you breathing.
Against Chucky, not laughing is already winning. You are very good at not laughing.
What Else Is Coming to Apple TV in October?
Stephen Graham as Jurek Walter and Liev Schreiber as Jonah Lynn in Nocturne.Image via Apple TV
The streamer’s release slate for original movies and TV shows includes several titles. In The Last First: Winter K2 (October 2), viewers experience the culture of mountain climbing in the documentary directed by Amir Bar-Lev. Later on October 16, Tenzing, a scripted drama film tells the story of the first recorded man to climb Mount Everest. The film will be in theaters for a week beginning October 9, then stream. The Sisters Grimm (October 2) is an animated series about two orphaned sisters searching for their parents in a fantasy world. Small Prophets (October 7) also makes its global debut after a successful run in the UK; it’s already been renewed for a second season. Matchbox The Movie (October 9) brings the iconic Mattel toys to life, while the second season of the German dark comedy series, Where’s Wanda (October 21), premieres.
Nocturne debuts Friday, October 30, on Apple TV. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
