Just in time for Halloween, AMC+ is bringing a Canadian witchy mystery thriller to our screens that's equally spicy, empowering, and unapologetic.
The new series, YAGA, which is based on Kat Sandler's play of the same name, stars Clark Backo, Noah Ried, Carrie-Anne Moss, and Hudson Williams. And earlier this year at San Diego Comic-Con, we spoke with Sandler about the deliberate choices made in the television adaptation to expand the world-building and lore of Baba Yaga, including the addition of several meaningful needle drops and Easter eggs.
One of the ways Sandler honored the origins of the folklore of Baba Yaga is through the music featured on the show. The first official trailer for YAGA featured a cover of "Season of the Witch" by Alanis Morissette in English, but the first two episodes each intentionally start with Eastern European covers of "These Boots are Made For Walking" (sung in Czech) and "Heart of Glass," respectively. Along with other nods to popular witch stories and characters, the creative choice to utilize Eastern European cover songs continues over the course of the season.
When asked about the music selections, Sandler explained that including Eastern European versions of iconic female pop songs was done as a nod to the history of Baba Yaga.
"Eastern Europe... that's her home. That's where she was born, and she's such a shared entity across all those countries," she said. "We really are trying to pay homage to her origin, but I think Yaga is something that belongs in the whole world, and there's echoes of her in every... in so many different cultures, and she is something different."
Witches are so often represented by certain colors, costumes, or other specific imagery dictated by other people, but for Sandler's YAGA, what Baba Yaga stands for is retold in her own words. As the mystery in the TV series unfolds, the audience will see how her voice and identity are centered around reclaiming her story — a story that has "always been told a certain way about them." And while many of the creative choices made have a more serious connection to the folklore, other breadcrumbs scattered throughout the show are purely for the audience's entertainment.
Witchy Easter eggs and detective breadcrumbs in YAGA
With only a half-hour run time for each episode, you're going to want to pay close attention to every detail. Not only will viewers be following along with the mystery, but the creative team also made the choice to include nods to other famous witches and detective characters throughout the show, and Sandler wants to see how many of these deliberate Easter eggs (which she lovingly called "witch nuggets") fans can find across the eight episodes.
Definitely pay attention to names of people and locations mentioned in dialogue and printed on signs for where the show is set in Whittock. To get you started, Sandler clued us in on a few of them.
"The diner is called Sandeson's, not Sanderson's, and that's a joke," Sandler confirmed. "There's a character named Abigail Williams... and you know that's the accuser in The Crucible." But along with these witch nuggets, you can also look for nods to other iconic detectives.
The design team especially had fun with costuming, and Sandler shared that Detective Charlie Rapp (Noah Reid) wears a jacket on the show that's identical to what Detective David Mills (Brad Pitt) wears in the crime movie Se7en.
"There's lots of little pieces that are from those movies and from those TV shows that are just plopped right in there," Sandler said. "If you blink, you'll miss them. Also, there are a lot of chickens. Follow the chickens."
The first two episodes of YAGA are now available to stream on AMC+ with new episodes dropping every Friday.
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