TV Show review
March 26, 2018 · 44 min · TV-14 · Canceled
Woke Score
Lower is better
Breakdown
These are the editorial factors and ratings behind our score for The Terror.
Woke representation / casting
Season 1 uses authentic Inuit casting for key indigenous roles (praised for accuracy) and features a visible same-sex relationship between sailors Hickey and Gibson as part of the plot. Season 2 uses an all Japanese-ancestry cast for Japanese and Japanese-American characters, with production publicly emphasizing the difficulty and choice against pan-Asian casting as tied to the story's history. These are audience-visible patterns justified by setting and source but carry identity-appropriate emphasis in prominent parts, especially Season 2.
Woke political dialogue
The series uses almost no explicit modern activist or political dialogue. Stories advance through period-appropriate talk, survival pressures, personal betrayals, folklore, and action rather than lectures or contemporary framing on screen.
Identity-driven story themes
Season 2 centers Japanese-American family and community identity, generational ties, and life under persecution, with the ghost story linked to past transgressions within that community. Season 1 focuses primarily on British naval crew survival, hierarchy, and human breakdown in extreme conditions with less foregrounded identity emphasis, though the sailor relationship adds a secondary layer.
Review
The Terror is an AMC anthology series of standalone historical horror stories blending real events with supernatural elements. Season 1 adapts Dan Simmons' novel about the 1845 Franklin Arctic expedition, where British naval ships become trapped in ice and face a monstrous Inuit spirit alongside crew conflict and survival breakdown. Season 2, called Infamy, follows a Japanese-American family and community in 1940s California dealing with U.S. government internment after Pearl Harbor plus a vengeful ghost drawn from Japanese folklore. Visible elements include deliberate authentic casting for Inuit and Japanese roles, a same-sex sailor relationship in Season 1, creator comments framing Season 1 around toxic masculinity and hubris, and Season 2's direct depiction of American institutional persecution of Japanese citizens as a core terror.
Western institutional / cultural critique
Season 1 shows British naval leadership's arrogance, class rigidity, and refusal to heed practical advice as central to the expedition's doom; the showrunner has publicly labeled aspects around male ego and hubris as toxic masculinity. Season 2 presents U.S. government internment of its own Japanese-American citizens as a profound institutional and human horror running parallel to the supernatural threat. Both draw on historical power structures and failures without heavy explicit modern ideological overlays in the core narrative.
Woke character or canon changes
Not relevant. Season 1 adapts the source novel with some changes to pacing, emphasis, and ending for thematic effect, but these do not reflect identity-driven or DEI-style reinterpretations of characters, canon, or historical figures. Season 2 is an original story for the anthology.
Anti-woke backlash and complaints
Some viewers and user reviews criticize Season 2 for heavy-handed use of internment history as political commentary or one-sided modern messaging, with occasional direct references to a "woke agenda." These complaints exist but remain limited, mostly online or in review comments, and do not represent dominant coverage or organized pushback. Season 1 drew far less of this type of criticism.
Creator track record context
Key creatives include David Kajganich (prior work with historical social and feminist-adjacent themes) and Alexander Woo (immigrant family background used for accurate historical violence portrayal rather than activism). Most other writers and directors have low or no documented patterns of identity-driven or activist work. Dan Simmons, source author for Season 1, has a conservative public record. The overall team reflects mostly genre, historical, and prestige drama focus with mild liberal or cultural storytelling signals rather than recurring DEI or representation-first priorities.
Production
