{"id":24092,"date":"2025-11-05T09:00:16","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T14:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/tvreal\/"},"modified":"2025-11-06T14:48:06","modified_gmt":"2025-11-06T19:48:06","slug":"doug-mackay-hope-on-the-natural-horrors-of-nature-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/doug-mackay-hope-on-the-natural-horrors-of-nature-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Doug Mackay-Hope on Capturing the Natural Horrors of Nature"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nightmares of Nature<\/em>, which first premiered in September on Netflix, returned at the end of October with a new batch of episodes, just in time for Halloween. Produced by Plimsoll Productions and Blumhouse, the new season blurs the line between natural history and horror as Maya Hawke narrates the doings of maggots, cockroaches and other types of chilling critters.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe team at Plimsoll had been mulling over the concept of Nightmares of Nature<\/em> for a while,\u201d showrunner Doug Mackay-Hope tells TV Real<\/em>\u00a0of the origin of the series. \u201cNatural history and horror have such dedicated audiences, so we knew we\u2019d have a winner by creating the right vehicle to appeal to both genres.\u201d<\/p>\n

An ideal partnership came about when Plimsoll joined forces with Blumhouse, a studio with plenty of experience with the horror genre. \u201cThe key to embarking on this hybrid experience was collaborating with a team that lives and breathes horror,\u201d Mackay-Hope says. \u201cBlumhouse inarguably is the best and most brilliant in this genre, but we also have something in common: We are both part of the ITV family, so once we were introduced, we pitched. Blumhouse was as excited about the idea as we were, and we developed the ideal partnership.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBlumhouse established \u2018Scare School\u2019 to immerse us in all things horror, and in return, we talked about all the kinds of things that Mother Nature can scare up,\u201d he continues. \u201cWe fused the best of both worlds, co-writing scripts, drawing storyboards and running our rough cuts through their horror editor to give it that hallmark Blumhouse gloss.\u201d<\/p>\n

The show\u2019s visceral, frightening realism stems from nature itself. \u201cFirst, nature is naturally riddled with horror,\u201d Mackay-Hope explains. \u201cMaggots, hatching cockroaches, spawning slugs and decomposing flora and fauna of all sorts\u2014all ordinary processes that most people find grotesque. Second, these small creatures\u2014like mice\u2014are delicious to their predators, and that alone must terrify the prey. The idea of stitching together these two elements makes viewers root for the heroes trying to survive, creating a narrative that constantly puts them in peril when each decision is a matter of life or death\u2014or run or hide. The wild shares DNA with every great horror film. Viewers will hold their collective breath watching these creatures survive against all odds.\u201d<\/p>\n

The team utilized storyboarding to solidify the story they wanted to tell. \u201cWhen we developed our scripts, we storyboarded each scene,\u201d Mackay-Hope says. \u201cThis process helped us communicate the look and feel while also helping us determine how to film certain things. For example, we knew we wanted the mouse nest to flood, and originally, we thought the whole cupboard under the sink would fill with water. Not only was that impractical to film, but it also felt implausible. When we storyboarded it, we added in a fictitious rat poison tin called \u2018PURGE\u2019\u2014one of our favorite Easter eggs in the series. This amplified our story layers and made everything easier to film. We might not have worked that out until the shoot if we hadn\u2019t storyboarded.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sound and music play a central role in delivering the show\u2019s eerie tension. \u201cMusic and sound are vital to this series, and we acknowledged this from the start,\u201d Mackay-Hope notes. \u201cBoth natural history and horror films use music to convey emotions in a scene when there\u2019s no dialogue, although they embrace a wider range of music styles. Naturally, history tends to be trapped in big orchestral, sweeping scores. We watched a lot of horror films and wanted the horror audience to feel at home. Slowed-down nursery rhyme, anyone? We had a lot of fun, and Stuart Roslyn, our composer, embraced the challenge and really went to town with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Casting the narrator proved to be one of the biggest challenges for the team, until Maya Hawke came along. \u201cHorror films never have narrators!\u201d Mackay-Hope exclaims. \u201cWe needed a storyteller with range in delivering information from creepy to sweet and then, at times, witty and knowing, which is a big ask for anyone. The moment we heard Maya\u2019s read, the final piece had fallen into place. Not only could she dance between tones so wonderfully\u2014she utterly understood what we were after and loved the project. It was a macabre fusion, and we were so lucky to have her.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beyond the fun of making a genre-bending crossover format, the team\u2019s ambition was always to make nature appeal to a large audience. \u201cIt\u2019s for everyone\u2014not just geeks and nerds\u2014so with Nightmares of Nature<\/em>, we found a new entry point and a way to tell a story that appeals to people who initially might ignore it,\u201d Mackay-Hope says. \u201cI challenge anyone to watch this series and not come away from it thinking that mice, frogs or even raccoons are more badass, funny and cool than they previously thought. That\u2019s the benefit of these kinds of formats: finding a new and broad audience, and we\u2019re concocting more and more.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The showrunner of Nightmares of Nature on blurring the line between natural history and horror in the new season of the series.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7389,"featured_media":24091,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[79,69],"tags":[6316,269,7848],"class_list":["post-24092","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-features","category-top-stories","tag-doug-mackay-hope","tag-netflix","tag-nightmares-of-nature","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"\nDoug Mackay-Hope on Capturing the Natural Horrors of Nature - TVREAL<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/doug-mackay-hope-on-the-natural-horrors-of-nature-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Doug Mackay-Hope on Capturing the Natural Horrors of Nature - TVREAL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The showrunner of Nightmares of Nature on blurring the line between natural history and horror in the new season of the series.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/doug-mackay-hope-on-the-natural-horrors-of-nature-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"TVREAL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-11-05T14:00:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-11-06T19:48:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/11\/Netflix-NightmaresofNature-1125.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"394\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kloudia Sakowski\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kloudia Sakowski\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/doug-mackay-hope-on-the-natural-horrors-of-nature-2\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/doug-mackay-hope-on-the-natural-horrors-of-nature-2\/\",\"name\":\"Doug Mackay-Hope on Capturing the Natural Horrors of Nature - TVREAL\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-05T14:00:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-06T19:48:06+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/#\/schema\/person\/0c0fb596604e018568d0e01fe463109b\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/doug-mackay-hope-on-the-natural-horrors-of-nature-2\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/doug-mackay-hope-on-the-natural-horrors-of-nature-2\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/doug-mackay-hope-on-the-natural-horrors-of-nature-2\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Doug Mackay-Hope on Capturing the Natural Horrors of Nature\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/\",\"name\":\"TVREAL\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/#\/schema\/person\/0c0fb596604e018568d0e01fe463109b\",\"name\":\"Kloudia Sakowski\",\"description\":\"Kloudia Sakowski is the associate editor of World Screen. 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