Yaga trailer at Comic-Con teases a dark Baba Yaga mystery
AMC+ and Crave showed the Yaga trailer at Comic-Con, revealing an October 2026 launch for Kat Sandler's Baba Yaga thriller.
By Georgia Hale · Staff Writer
3 min read
The Yaga trailer at Comic-Con gave AMC+ and Crave’s new thriller a sultry, sinister first look, with Carrie-Anne Moss, Hudson Williams, Noah Reid and Clark Backo pulled into a modern spin on Baba Yaga lore.
Deadline reported that the trailer debuted during a Saturday panel at San Diego Comic-Con, where the series was pitched as a dark, feminist reworking of the Slavic witch myth. The footage also revealed an October 2026 release window.
The show is based on the play by Kat Sandler, who is also writer and showrunner. Her version moves the folklore into a contemporary mystery about a private investigator, Rapp, played by Reid, who arrives in a small coastal town after the disappearance of Henry Park, a young heir tied to a powerful fishery.
Rapp’s case brings him up against Carson, a wary local detective played by Backo, and Katherine, a magnetic university professor played by Moss. Williams plays the missing heir, Henry.
What is Yaga about?
Yaga is a mystery thriller built around the Baba Yaga legend, with a missing-person case, secretive locals and ancient magic all tangled together. Baba Yaga is a figure from Slavic folklore often described in different ways, including as a witch who lives in a house on chicken legs, a dangerous seductress, a powerful enchantress or a woman with wisdom and menace in equal measure.
According to Deadline, the Comic-Con trailer opened with Moss’ Katherine describing the many forms of Baba Yaga while sitting across from Williams’ Henry. The footage then moved through fast flashes of sex, danger, blood ritual imagery, chicken feathers and an aged witch figure.
Reid joked after the footage that Williams’ character appeared very hands-on in the trailer, while Williams, who was not at the panel in person, appeared by pre-recorded video and said filming the show was “a blast and a wild one.” Reid described Williams’ work as “a wild performance that is scary hot,” Deadline reported.
Moss also did not appear in person, but sent well wishes to viewers ahead of the fall debut.
The panel included another clip showing Carson and Rapp meeting for the first time after being called to what appeared to be a burning body on a makeshift pyre in the woods. Deadline reported that the scene included a voiceover from Yaga questioning how people have described her through the years, including as wicked, powerful, lonely and unloved.
Sandler described the series as “a feminist revenge-tinged reimagining” that is “sexy, propulsive, vicious and scary.” She said the detective structure came from the stories she grew up loving, including fairy tales such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, Cinderella and the Grimm tales.
She added that witch stories connect naturally to ideas of darkness and transgression, and said the show considers what could happen if a witch survived long enough to strike back and tell her own version of events.
Yaga is produced by Blink49 Studios and Front Street Pictures in partnership with Crave. David Frazee and Rachel Talalay are co-directors. Executive producers include Mackenzie Donaldson, Andrew Miller and Moss, with Charles Cooper producing. Sphere Abacus, a Bell Media company, is handling global distribution.
This story draws on original reporting from Deadline.