Heathers TV trailer review breakdown: What can we expect?

The Heathers TV series, created by Jason A. Micallef and based on the 1988 dark comedy of the same name, teases its premiere with a flashy trailer.

The Heathers trailer promises enough murder, suicide, explosions, sex, and innovative exclamations to fill ten times that of the original film. Among the splashy, trashy, colorful cutscenes that will intrigue hungry newcomers, there are glimpses of croquet, lunchtime polls, and the furious monocled journaling that are clear points of homage for the cult classic fans.

Message received: its Heathers, but in overdrive and for a new era.

The most obvious take away from the trailer, and an encouraging point of divergence from the film version is the striking diversity of the casting. The main characters of the film were exclusively white and heterosexual. It even used a fictional homosexual relationship to shame the school jocks.

In the new TV series, Heather One is an image of body positive glamour, while Heathers Two and Three are a black woman and a genderqueer male. At the same time, the language and the tone of the trailer would make me hesitate to call the culture of Westerberg High School inclusive. One can only hope that with the diverse casting the material will also challenge gender stereotypes, hetero-normative culture, body image issues, and perhaps other topics as well.

The main cast, young and relatively unknown, clearly take the campy cattiness and delightful grotesquerie of the material to heart. Shannen Doherty (who played Heather Duke in the film) as JD’s Mom brings a touch of nostalgia and continuity to this reimagining of a classic.

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Heathers premieres on Paramount on Wednesday, March 7 at 10/9 p.m. CST, the Pilot is already up and streaming on the Paramount website.