Submitted for the approval of the Midnight Society, Amazon’s audio service Audible has teamed up with Nickelodeon for the first time to launch the new Are You Afraid of the Dark? The Official Podcast. Due out in September, the podcast will tell a series of scary stories to introduce the brand to a new generation of fans.
The six x 15- to 20-minute Audible Original launches September 28 exclusively on the subscription-based platform. Nickelodeon and Paramount Audio are producing the podcast, which tells a series of different scary stories, including one about an evil toy and another about an abandoned factory that is home to an eerie urban legend. It targets older kids and families.
The series will follow a new generation of Midnight Society members, who have picked up the torch (or the match, if you will) from the original cast. But while we may not be regaled by the likes of Gary, Kiki, Tucker, and Betty Ann, the new podcast will offer up all the tales of haunted houses, graveyards, monsters, and science experiments gone awry you’d expect from Are You Afraid of the Dark?.
The limited series will offer six episodes of spine-tingling tales of terror: The Tale of the Last Hide and Seek; The Tale of the Haunted Holiday; The Tale of the Too Cool Curse (a two-parter!); The Tale of the Doomed Toyheads; and The Tale of the Ghastly Gourmet.
You can start listening to The Tale of Are You Afraid of The Dark? The Official Podcast on Audible starting on Sept. 28. http://audible.com/areyouafraid
Season One Episode Guide:
1. The Tale of the Last Hide and Seek: Four kids take their Hide and Seek game to an abandoned factory, where the urban legend about the Night Watchman MAY be more than just a story. 16 mins
2. The Tale of the Haunted Holiday: Mark and Kat go on a family trip with their dad, where they discover that they are not the only ones in the vacation house they rented. 16 mins
3. Part 1: The Tale of the Too Cool Curse: Hannah wants nothing more than to be one of the cool kids. After purchasing a mysterious piece of jewelry, all her desires, both good and bad, start to come true. 16 mins
4. Part 2: The Tale of the Too Cool Curse: Hannah wants nothing more than to be one of the cool kids. After purchasing a mysterious piece of jewelry, all her desires, both good and bad, start to come true. 13 mins
5. The Tale of the Doomed Toyheads: Kirsten runs a popular toy building YouTube channel, but when a mysterious package arrives at her door, the toy turns perhaps more playful than it seems. 17 mins
6. The Tale of the Ghastly Gourmet Courtney and Judd bite off more than they can chew when their parents take them to a fancy restaurant and they try to make a special order. 19 mins
Performers:
Jeremy Ray Taylor is an American actor, producer, director, and podcaster who found his passion for acting at the age of eight. He is best known for his lead roles as Ben in the hit film It and Sonny in Goosebumps 2: Slappy’s Revenge. His most recent projects include Big Sky and Senior Year.
Jeremy is from Bluff City, TN. Born to parents Michael and Tracy Taylor and the youngest of the family, Jeremy grew up in East Tennessee, where he learned a strong work ethic on the family farm.
Jeremy has the unique ability to successfully transition from drama to comedy, as seen in his movie Senior Year.
He loves stretching himself and pushing his acting skills to the next level with every opportunity that comes his way.
Mason Versaw is a performer from Ashtabula, Ohio. He can currently be seen in a series regular role opposite Lana Condor in the Netflix miniseries Boo, Bitch as well as in a supporting lead role in the feature film Sex Appeal (Hulu/American High). Mason also had a heavily recurring guest role on the Gossip Girl reboot (The CW). Previously, he appeared in a large co-star guest role on Blue Bloods (CBS) and had a supporting role in Lin-Manuel Miranda's tick, tick... BOOM!, playing a young Jonathan Larson. Commercially, he can be seen in major spots for Instagram and Apple. He trained at the Lee Strasberg Institute and is also an incredible singer. In addition to acting, Mason is an all-star basketball player.
Audible has been tuning into more kids content lately, signing partnerships this year with major kids companies including Hasbro (to develop the first-ever Peppa Pig podcast), KIDZ BOP and Moonbug Entertainment. The service, which boasts more than 800,000 titles, is adding another big name in kids TV to its lineup of younger-skewing content with this Nickelodeon deal.
Are You Afraid of the Dark? started off in the ’90s as a live-action TV series that Nickelodeon revived in 2019 with a miniseries that ran for three seasons. Both spooky shows center around a group of teens who get together to tell each other scary stories. The series is also being adapted into a range of books and graphic novels.
“We always thought the Are You Afraid of the Dark? universe would be perfectly suited to the audio medium, and dreamed of how an AYAOTD audio thriller could fuel the fire of kids’ imaginations in the presence of ghost stories,” says Lynn Kestin-Sessler, senior creative director of Nickelodeon Podcasts, told Kidscreen. “When Nickelodeon gave us the chance, we jumped at it, striking a classic Nick balance between kid-appropriate horror, thrills and entertainment.”
Nickelodeon has been investing in podcasts for several of its biggest brands over the past few years. In 2021, the kidcaster teamed up with iHeartRadio for a slate of titles based on Avatar: The Last Airbender and SpongeBob SquarePants. And the company also previously made podcasts based on The Loud House, The Casagrandes and Blue’s Clues & You!.
“This new audio thriller is just the beginning; we have so much more Nickelodeon fun planned in the months to come,” says Kestin-Sessler.
A Are You Afraid of the Dark? podcast was first announced in 2020, which was to have Jeremy Taylor reprises his role as “Graham” from the first season of the revival, Are You Afraid of the Dark?: The Carnival of Doom, playing a mysterious crypt keeper who transmits scary stories submitted to The Midnight Society through a pirate radio-style broadcast to listeners all over the world.
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Originally published: August 25, 2023.
Additional source: Romper.
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