The Black Tapes: Game of Thrones Star Nikolaj Coster-Waldau Leads MGM+ Horror Series

A cult horror podcast is finally making the jump to television.

MGM+ has officially greenlit The Black Tapes, an eight-episode supernatural horror investigation series based on the popular podcast created by Terry Miles and Paul Bae. Leading the new series is Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, best known to millions of viewers as Jaime Lannister in Game of Thrones.

The series is scheduled to begin production in Vancouver in January 2027.

And if the original podcast’s enormous following is any indication, The Black Tapes could become one of MGM+’s most intriguing new horror projects.

What Is The Black Tapes About?

The Black Tapes follows Dr. Richard Strand, a brilliant psychiatrist with a mysterious past who has built a reputation for investigating — and attempting to debunk — paranormal phenomena.

Strand teams up with Alex Regan, an obsessive scientist determined to uncover the truth behind unexplained cases.

Their investigations involve hauntings, possessions, disappearances and sinister legends collectively connected to the mysterious “black tapes.”

But the deeper Strand and Regan go, the harder it becomes to explain everything away.

What begins as an attempt to expose paranormal claims eventually leads them toward a hidden occult world and a centuries-old conspiracy with potentially apocalyptic consequences.

That combination of supernatural horror, investigation and conspiracy is one of the reasons the original podcast developed such a devoted following.

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau Plays Dr. Richard Strand

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau will star as Dr. Richard Strand.

For many viewers, Coster-Waldau remains best known for playing Jaime Lannister in HBO’s Game of Thrones. But the actor already has horror experience, including a role in the supernatural horror movie Mama.

Strand is described as a brilliant psychiatrist with a mysterious past.

He’s also a skeptic.

That makes the character particularly interesting because the series begins with Strand trying to debunk paranormal claims rather than immediately accepting them.

The central question becomes what happens when the evidence becomes increasingly difficult to explain.

Who Else Is In The Black Tapes Cast?

For now, Coster-Waldau is the only confirmed cast member.

MGM+ has not yet announced who will play Alex Regan or revealed the rest of the ensemble.

That means the casting announcements over the coming months could become important developments for the series.

The Black Tapes Comes From a Popular Horror Podcast

The television series is based on the 2015 podcast created by Terry Miles and Paul Bae.

The original The Black Tapes developed its reputation through a documentary-style approach to supernatural investigations, gradually building a much larger mystery around Strand and the unexplained cases known as the black tapes.

The podcast has reportedly accumulated more than 60 million downloads, giving the MGM+ adaptation an established audience before the first episode has even been filmed.

Miles and Bae are also involved with the television adaptation as writers and executive producers, alongside John Rogers and other producers.

That involvement could be especially important for longtime podcast fans who want the television series to preserve the strange investigative atmosphere that made the original distinctive.

When Does The Black Tapes Come Out?

There is no official premiere date yet.

MGM+ has confirmed that production is scheduled to begin in January 2027 in Vancouver.

The series will consist of eight episodes.

MGM+ has announced availability across the United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Italy, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands and Latin America.

Will The Black Tapes Be Scary?

That may depend on how closely the television adaptation embraces the original podcast’s slow-burn mystery.

The premise gives the series plenty of room for supernatural horror, but The Black Tapes isn’t simply about monsters appearing out of nowhere.

Its appeal comes from the investigation.

A supposedly rational investigator encounters cases that refuse to fit into a rational explanation. Every answer raises another question, and the larger conspiracy gradually becomes more disturbing.

That could make the series particularly appealing to fans of paranormal investigation stories, found-footage horror and conspiracy-driven supernatural mysteries.

Why Horror Fans Should Be Watching This

The combination is difficult to ignore:

A major horror streamer.

A 60-million-download podcast.

A Game of Thrones star.

Paranormal investigations.

Occult horror.

And a centuries-old conspiracy.

MGM+ has already built a reputation for genre television, and The Black Tapes gives the streamer another recognizable horror property with an existing fanbase.

For viewers who discovered the podcast years ago, the biggest question will be whether the television series can capture the unsettling mystery of the original while expanding its world.

For everyone else, this could be an opportunity to discover one of horror’s most unusual podcast adaptations.

What We Know So Far

Are You Ready for The Black Tapes?

The original podcast built its audience by asking a simple but terrifying question:

What happens when something cannot be explained?

Now MGM+ is bringing that question to television.

With Nikolaj Coster-Waldau leading the cast and the original creators involved behind the scenes, The Black Tapes is already one of the supernatural horror series worth watching.

Would you watch The Black Tapes when it arrives on MGM+?

Let us know in the comments.