Disney + has gifted fans a new spooky series that you will definitely want to add to your Halloween watch list! Just Beyond invites viewers to step “just beyond” the world we know with episodes including monsters, witches, aliens, ghosts and more.
Inspired by the works of legendary author R.L. Stine, those who dare to watch are in for a treat!
According to a press release, “Stine, prolific author of young-adult horror fiction, including the ‘Goosebumps’ and ‘Fear Street’ series, has been scaring readers worldwide for over 35 years. The show’s creators referenced his popular page-turners while developing their new series of hair-raising stories.”
Fans of the popular book series can now enjoy frightful entertainment on-screen. Each episode of Just Beyond holds a different cast of characters, a brand new storyline and a fair share of thrilling scares.
Celeb Secrets sat down (virtually) with some of the masterminds behind the show, as well as some of Just Beyond’s incredible cast. Writer and showrunner Seth Grahame-Smith and co-executive producer R.L. Stine shared with us how they came to turn a beloved book series into a top-notch TV series.
“Well for me, it was writing books for thirty years,” Stine said.
“For me it was very simple,” Grahame-Smith said. “Somebody brought me this brand new graphic novel series by R.L. Stine called ‘Just Beyond’ and said ‘Hey, this would make a great tv show. What do you think?’ and I said ‘I agree’ and we got to work on it and here we are a year or so later.”
Grahame-Smith explained that when working on this project, they sought to channel some of TV’s most classic scary shows.
“We were thinking about shows like the Twilight Zone or like Amazing Stories, these great shows that just kind of told these, once a week, they would tell a story and a story with a beginning, a middle and an end and the next week it would be a whole new story. And we were really excited about doing something like that and so, you know, doing Just Beyond gave us the opportunity to try it.”
While the show’s blueprint included a plan to package up a different plotline in each episode, Stine shared that one aspect always remains the same, “to scare.”
We always have the same goal and that’s just to scare kids mainly,” Stine said. “… and just to have fun!”
Having fun both on and off set, cast members from “Just Beyond” shared with us how they would react if they had to live out their spooky meets sci-fi scenes.
In Episode 2: Parents Are From Mars, Kids Are From Venus, best friends Jack and Gabriel discover their parents are aliens.
Gabriel Bateman, who plays Mark, said that he probably would go “into a coma” if he was in Jack’s shoes.
“Probably like go into a coma or faint or something,” Bateman said. “I don’t know, I definitely wouldn’t handle it as well as Jack did. I think first I would accept that my parents weren’t who they said they were and then secondly, I’d have to accept that aliens actually exist…”
Tapping into extraterrestrial terrors that may cease to exist, the show also tackles real world problems that exist for many.
In Episode 6: We’ve Got Spirits, Yes We Do, Ella has to face not only some friendly ghosts but an ex-best friend. Actress Lexi Underwood, who plays Ella, said that channeling this character included pulling from real-life experiences.
“I have not had any interactions with ghosts, very very grateful about that, but friendships and dealing with having to face your fears is something I definitely know all too well,” Underwood said.
“Change is a part of life,” Underwood explained. “It’s apart of the human experience and friendship breakups I think are something that everybody goes through it you know like I said it’s apart of the human experience so I can definitely relate, I can definitely relate to Ella and Ella feeling scared and unsure of how she would move on and how she should proceed. But also, I feel like I’ve learned something from Ella in the way that she did handle her situation and the way that she at the end of the day she faced fears..”
Taking a peak further behind the scenes, the cast dished on some unknown secrets from on set. From behind-the-scenes bloopers to real live creepy crawlers, this new series has the stuff to make your skin crawl in the best way!
Celeb Secrets sat down with RL Stine, Seth Grahame-Smith, Cedric Joe, Lexi Underwood, Gabriel Bateman, Jy Prishkulnik and Megan Stott to learn more about their characters, this spooky series, and some more behind-the-scenes details that fans wouldn’t know. You’ve got to watch the video below for more!
Fans who dare can currently stream all eight episodes of Just Beyond on Disney+.
Let us know if you’re excited for Just Beyond by either leaving a reaction at the bottom of the post or by sending us a tweet at @celebsecrets.
