NEED TO KNOW
- Hudson Williams’ new steamy thriller, Yaga, is dropping tomorrow, October 23 at 6:00pm AEDT .
- The eight-part series can be streamed in Australia via Foxtel and Binge.
- The ensemble cast also includes Noah Reid from Schitt’s Creek and Carrie-Anne Moss from The Matrix.
Before Hudson Williams returns to the cabin for Season 2 of everyone’s favourite gay sports romance, Heated Rivalry, he’s stepping into the eldritch world of Slavic folklore with Yaga, a mystery thriller and feminist reimagining of the legendary witch Baba Yaga.
Created by Kat Sandler, who adapted the project from her 2019 play, Yaga promises a dark, lusty spin on a centuries-old myth. The eight-part series follows Rapp (Noah Reid, of Schitt’s Creek), a private detective investigating the disappearance of Henry Park (Williams), the resident bad boy and heir to a commercial fishery in a verdant, mist-cloaked Canadian coastal town.
Rapp enlists the help of Carson (Clark Backo), a local detective, and Katherine (Carrie-Anne Moss), a university professor specialising in osteology. But as they delve deeper into the case, the investigation takes a sinister turn, with strange, witchy occurrences bubbling to the fore.
RELATED: Hudson Williams Has A New Drama For Us To Obsess Over
At its heart, Yaga offers a modern feminist retelling of Baba Yaga, a figure whose mythology has been shaped by centuries of conflicting tales. Both the original play and the series open with a monologue from Baba Yaga, reflecting on the many interpretations of herself that have shrouded her legend in mystery.
Is she a gnarled old woman, dwelling in a hut perched on chicken legs deep in the forest, with iron teeth and a mortar and pestle to carry her through the skies? Does she devour lost children and grind their bones, or has centuries of folklore flattened her into a monstrous caricature, obscuring her as a proto-feminist figure of untameable female power, independence and self-possession?
And if you’re just here for Hudson, we understand. The actor appears to be getting romantically entangled with just about everyone in the cast, including Reid’s Rapp — a pairing that’s sure to send the Heated Rivalry fandom into a flutter.
Where To Watch ‘Yaga’ In Australia
The mystery thriller arrives on screens tomorrow, October 23, just in time for Halloween. The series will premiere on Binge and Foxtel, with the first two episodes dropping at 6pm AEDT. Episodes three through six will drop weekly, before the series wraps up with a double-episode finale on November 27.
