Teacup Stars Reveal How the Horror Series Was Like Summer Camp

Stars Emilie Bierre and Caleb Dolden play siblings Meryl and Arlo in the Peacock series Teacup, in which a bizarre and frightening threat has put their family and their farm at risk. Understandably, this presents a number of challenges for all of the characters in the series, and while the adults might have the life experience to be able to stay focused on keeping cool, the younger characters are undergoing an entirely different experience. Despite the harrowing things that their on-screen characters endured, the pair both recalled how filming the series felt more like a summer camp than a collection of cast and filmmakers telling a frightening story. New episodes of Teacup premiere every Thursday on Peacock.

“Filming felt like summer camp, pretty much,” Dolden revealed to ComicBook of the production. “There wasn’t a scary part of it because I had read the scripts and memorized everything, and so once I had it memorized, I knew exactly what was going to happen. And I knew everybody on that set, and as soon as a take was over, everybody would go back to smiling and being happy.”

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Bierre noted that this vibe persisted, even as new directors would cycle in for specific episodes, as she expressed, “It felt like a different counselor at the same summer camp. Everybody was working towards the same goal. All of them were great and they all fit their episodes so well. It was so lovely, because it would just change the rhythm of our days filming, and the approach with directing and everything. It was slight differences, but at the end of the day, it was still Teacup, for sure.”

Teacup follows a disparate group of people in rural Georgia who must come together in the face of a mysterious threat in order to survive. Inspired by the New York Times bestselling novel Stinger by Robert McCammon.

While Arlo is the youngest member of the ensemble, allowing him to act out in ways others can’t, Meryl is stuck between wanting to connect with the adults while also being tasked with caring for her younger brother. Bierre went on to address how she used these components of her character to connect to her actual self.

“The points that we have in common, the most important things, were her being a big sister,” the actor pointed out. “I also have a little sister that’s three years younger than me in real life, so I could instantly connect to that feeling. Those relationships are always complex. You love them, some days, you’re like, ‘Ugh, you’re annoying,’ but at the end of the day, you just want to make sure they’re okay and you love them with all your heart, so that was something that was really easy to connect to. We’re different on a lot of little things, I guess I’m slightly older than she is.”

She added, “I would say maybe the most different thing would be how she has her guard up a little bit with people. She’s trying to act like she’s all cool and she doesn’t care about things a little bit, at first. I’m more like, ‘Hey, let’s be friends!’ More open than she is, but I think she’s doing that to protect herself a little bit with certain people.”

New episodes of Teacup premiere on Thursdays on Peacock.

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