The third season of AMC’s acclaimed horror anthology, The Terror, adapts Victor LaValle’s unsettling 2012 novel, The Devil in Silver. The story centers on a malevolent supernatural force haunting the corridors of the crumbling New Hyde Psychiatric Hospital. Pepper, played by Dan Stevens, finds himself involuntarily committed after a violent altercation involving his partner’s ex and local law enforcement. For Stevens, this atmosphere is familiar; he previously navigated the surreal, institutional dread of Noah Hawley’s X-Men series, Legion.
“Environments like these are fertile ground for horror—or really, any compelling narrative,” Stevens shared during a virtual press event. “They offer a contained, claustrophobic, and truly hellish arena where you find yourself unjustly detained.”
While his Legion character, David Haller, wrestled with a misunderstood mental parasite, Stevens views Pepper as a starkly different, darker entity. “He is profoundly impulsive,” Stevens explained. “He’s an unrefined man who hasn’t done the internal work, arriving with the conviction that the world is broken, he is right, and physical force is the only solution. He’s forced to learn otherwise, confronting both the malevolent entities stalking the halls and the systemic failures of the American healthcare industry.”
Image: AMCThat systemic critique hit close to home during production. While much of The Terror: Devil in Silver was filmed at a shuttered Staten Island prison, crews also utilized a psychiatric facility that remained partially active. “It was eerie,” Stevens recalled. “We’d be filming in the courtyard while actual patients banged on their windows—there was a palpable sense of neglect. The facility was clearly underfunded, mirroring the grim reality of LaValle’s source material.”
The physical exhaustion shown by Pepper is largely authentic. Beyond the expected prosthetics, Stevens attributed his haggard appearance to the relentless heat and the absence of climate control in the prison setting. Karyn Kusama, who directed the series’ premiere episodes, echoed the sentiment: “The feeling of institutional entrapment was pervasive. It seeped into everything, making the shoot exceptionally challenging.”
CCH Pounder, portraying the duty-bound Nurse Chris, highlights the parallels between her character’s obsession with patient “compliance” and real-world apathy toward flawed systems. “It acts as a powerful mirror,” Pounder noted. “We often grumble about the state of the world, yet we remain passive. This series captures that tension beautifully.”
Stevens remains hopeful that the show’s genre elements will bypass audience fatigue regarding social commentary. “When you cloak these messages in a narrative, they often resonate more deeply,” he said. “The failures of the healthcare system are a genuine horror story. We’re simply holding up a mirror—and we’ll keep trying to make it stick.”
The Terror: Devil in Silver is available to stream on AMC Plus and Shudder, with new episodes releasing Thursdays through June 11.
Source: Polygon
