All the news and trailers for Jordan Peele’s Twilight Zone reboot

In April, CBS All Access launched Jordan Peele’s reboot of The Twilight Zone, the latest in a string of remakes of the franchise, and the latest anthology-style show to come from a streaming service. Now, CBS is releasing a new version of it, this time in black-and-white, which harkens back to the style of the original.

The first couple of episodes of the new series cut really close to the original — so much so that reviewer Samantha Nelson noted that they’re a bit weaker than they might have otherwise been. Some viewers complained about another aspect of the show: Peele’s version was in color, a departure from the originals, which came in black and white. Some fans noted that they were adjusting their TV’s settings so that the new episodes would look like the originals.

Audiences should always be a little wary of any new show or film that reportedly debuts on April Fools’ Day, especially if it seems too good to be true or too weird to believe. (We’re still withholding judgment on indie auteur Jim Jarmusch supposedly making a super goofy zombie comedy, for instance.) But for some shows, like Jordan Peele’s inherently twist-and-surprise-oriented reboot of the 1950s classic series The Twilight Zone, April 1st seems like an appropriate kick-off date. The show launches today, solely on the subscription-only service CBS All Access.

But for the curious (and the hard-to-convince, since these days, few people seem excited about the prospect of signing on for yet another proprietary, fee-based subscription streaming service), the network has posted an initial episode of the show on YouTube where people in licensed countries can watch it in full without a signup or payment. The episode, “The Comedian,” stars The Big Sick filmmaker and star Kumail Nanjiani as a stand-up comedian who makes a sort of deal with the devil — a mysterious figure played by Tracy Morgan — to become a comedy success.

Rod Serling’s anthology series The Twilight Zone has been remade, parodied, and imitated so many times since it premiered in 1959 that almost everyone can name its episode components: something weird happens, the narrator lets viewers know a bit more about what’s going on, then there’s a twist and a moral message, which is elaborated in the narrator’s parting lines.

What makes a good episode of The Twilight Zone is much harder to articulate. But it’s clear from CBS’s first four episodes of the newest version of the series, produced and hosted by Get Out and Us writer-director Jordan Peele, that it doesn’t involve playing it safe. All four of the initial episodes parallel specific earlier episodes, and the closer they hew to the originals, the weaker they are.

The reboot of the classic episodic TV show The Twilight Zone will hit CBS All Access on April 1st, and with just over a month to go, CBS has released a full trailer for the series.

Get Out director Jordan Peele will host and produce the show, as heard in a surreal TV spot that aired during this year’s Super Bowl. This new teaser shows off a bit more of what to expect from this new effort: a series of surreal, unsettling episodes with a cast that includes Adam Scott, Kumail Nanjiani, John Cho, and Peele himself.

CBS debuted a clever trailer for its upcoming reboot of The Twilight Zone, opening with Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium abruptly shutting down, leaving a single figure in the middle of the field — Jordan Peele, the host for the series.

As he walks towards an empty door, he asks viewers to “witness an empty space, filled with thousands of screaming people, a man both nowhere, and everywhere at the same time, answers our new questions. The unthinkable is the expected. When truth is not the truth, what dimension are you even in?” It’s a clever teaser that immediately attracts viewers attention, and showcases the surrealist nature of the show.

CBS has set a premiere date for Jordan Peele’s reboot of The Twilight Zone: April 1st. The first two episodes will premiere on CBS All Access, with new episodes to follow each Thursday.

Peele will be one of the show’s executive producers, and he will also host and narrate the show. The timing is apt, as CBS All Access’s other big science fiction revival show, Star Trek: Discovery, should be wrapping up its second season in April, giving subscribers another reason to hang on to their subscription for a bit longer.

After getting the green light last year, Jordan Peele’s Twilight Zone reboot is officially coming in 2019, according to the first teaser tweeted by the horror / comedy auteur. Peele will take on creator Rod Serling’s double duty as both producer and host.

The Twilight Zone is one of television’s most renowned shows. It was an anthology series that ran for five seasons between 1959 and 1964. In that short span of time, it managed to rewrite America’s idea of what surrealism in television could be. Its DNA is in everything from The X-Files to Black Mirror. Rebooting it is, to say the least, a daunting project.