While we are on the topic of season ideas I'll slip in mine. A small town cult in the 70s/present-day. Imagine those shitty towns you pass by on the highway. That's what I'm picturing. Now add a Jonestown-esque cult. I want it to be in the 70s because a lot of cults popped up in that decade. That and it's just a generally cool setting. At first nothing seems amiss in the town but subtle creepy things keep happening. It gets to the point where it's a full fledged cult.
Cast
Protagonist: 14-17, recently moved into this town. Has a sleepwalking/sleeptalking/sleep killing problem. If I had to choose someone from the cast it would be Taissa Farmiga. But tbh I don't think she's that good of an actress. Whoever it is, it should be a good kid actor. Is it bad I'm picturing chloe moretz?
Guidance Counselor at your highschool: In her late 20s, early 30s. Played by Lily Rabe. Protagonist and guidance counselor attempt to get out of the town together. She's one of the few people not sucked into the cult. Knows a lot about psychology, etc. you and the protagonist get close.
Murderous psychopathic girl at your school who seems friendly at first: Same grade as protagonist. Played by Emma Robertson. She seems friendly, you always smell the faint scent of old pennies under her perfume. Her lips and nails are bright red. Turns out she seduces boys at your school then murders them viciously in an abandoned warehouse. The lipstick and nail polish is blood. The smell of old pennies is also blood. Blood has that rusty metallic scent. P
Cult Leader: Sarah Paulson/Zachary Quinto as co-cult leaders. Or just one. It depends.
Creepy kid who is in the cult but doesn't really want to be: Played by Evan Peters. Creepy in a Tate kind of way. Glares at you all the time in school. Sulks nearby. Always telling you to go away. He's trying to scare you away from the town because he doesn't want you involved.
Plot-line:
What if you went to bed. And then at some point you woke up in the darkness. Standing up with butcher knife in your hand. At your parents' bed, standing there as they slept. You have no memory of getting up and doing this. What if you found an odd amount dead squirrels in your backyard and sometimes you would find a leaf in your hair or scratches on your body when you woke up. And you don't know how you got those either. Every night you lock your windows and barricade the door and try your hardest not to sleep because you are afraid if you sleep you will do something horrible.
Coming to this new town has made it worse. Everything about it makes you sleepy and more vulnerable. You feel crowded inside your own body. Like soneone is there with you. Breathing down your neck, waiting to slip through and take over. You can't tell anyone because they'll think you're insane. You really, really hope you are insane. And whatever is inside of you isn't real.
While this is all happening your family and friends are slowly being sucked into the town's cult and you are desperately trying to pull them back out and get away from this place. But they have cut the powerlines and the town police is blockading the roads, you are completely isolated from the outside.
The town has a strange hazy atmosphere. Like having insomnia. You know those nights where it's 2 a clock in the morning and you're just laying in bed begging to go to sleep. You're sitting on that weird line of being there but not being there. Between dreams and reality. You never feel fully awake or asleep in this town. And you are always cold.
Sometimes that dark thing inside of you comes out when you are awake. You think about giving into it. You think about giving into the cult too. You think about giving up a lot.