‘YAGA’ Brings Witchcraft, Murder and a Twisted Mystery to AMC+ This October

October television is already crowded with things going bump in the night, but AMC+ is throwing another witch into the mix and this one may have a few tricks up her sleeve.

YAGA, premiering October 23, takes the centuries-old legend of Baba Yaga and drops it into a contemporary mystery involving a missing young man, a suspicious coastal town and enough secrets to make just about everyone look guilty. The eight-episode series comes from writer and showrunner Kat Sandler and is based on her stage play of the same name.

At the center of the story is private investigator Rapp, played by Schitt’s Creek alum Noah Reid. Rapp arrives in town looking for Henry Park (Heated Rivalry’s Hudson Williams), the missing heir to a powerful local fishery. Naturally, this is television, so nobody simply hands over the answers and sends the investigator home before dinner.

Instead, Rapp finds himself navigating local detective Carson (Clark Backo), a town full of people with their own secrets and Katherine, a charismatic university professor played by Carrie-Anne Moss. AMC describes the mystery as involving secret lives, ancient magic, power and seduction, so apparently Baba Yaga has gotten quite the modern makeover.

This Isn’t Your Childhood Witch Story

Baba Yaga is one of the most recognizable figures in Slavic folklore, but she has never been quite as straightforward as your standard wicked witch. Depending on the story being told, she can be terrifying, dangerous, helpful or some combination of all three. YAGA appears ready to play directly with that ambiguity rather than simply turning the folklore figure into another supernatural villain.

That gives the series an interesting foundation. Instead of asking viewers to wonder only whether something supernatural is happening, YAGA can play with a potentially more entertaining question: who exactly should anyone trust when nearly everyone appears to be hiding something?

The recently released trailer leans heavily into that uncertainty, blending the missing-person investigation with increasingly unsettling imagery while Alanis Morissette’s cover of Donovan’s “Season of the Witch” plays underneath. Subtle? Absolutely not. Appropriate for an October supernatural thriller? Oh, completely.

The Trailer Leans Into the Mystery

The official trailer makes one thing pretty clear: YAGA is not interested in being a straightforward witch story. The missing-person investigation is front and center, but the deeper Rapp gets into the case, the stranger everything becomes.

There are suspicious locals, unsettling imagery and plenty of hints that Katherine may know much more than she is letting on. AMC+ is clearly selling the series as a mystery first, with the supernatural elements slowly creeping in around the edges, which could help YAGA stand out from the usual October horror lineup.

The network has also released a sneak peek from the series, giving viewers an early look at the tone and tension driving the story. Between that clip and the trailer, YAGA looks like it wants viewers constantly questioning whether they are watching a murder investigation, a supernatural mystery or something sitting somewhere in between.

A Perfectly Timed October Mystery

AMC+ is giving YAGA a two-episode premiere on Friday, October 23, with new episodes following weekly. The season will conclude with two episodes on November 27. That means viewers will get enough of the mystery on premiere night to decide whether they are ready to follow this strange little town down the Baba Yaga rabbit hole.

The cast alone makes YAGA worth keeping on the radar. Along with Moss, Reid, Backo and Williams, the ensemble includes Sheila McCarthy, Megan Follows, Ezra Franky, Patrick Gilmore, Katharine Isabelle and Hiro Kanagawa. Rachel Talalay and David Frazee serve as co-directors, with Moss also among the executive producers.

Will YAGA become the next supernatural obsession? We’ll find out soon enough. But between the folklore, murder mystery, witchcraft and what appears to be a town where absolutely nobody knows how to mind their own business, AMC+ has at least assembled the ingredients for a very entertaining fall mystery.

YAGA premieres with two episodes Friday, October 23, exclusively on AMC+ in the United States.