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NOS4A2: Why Joe Hill Created The Hourglass Man For The TV Show

NOS4A2has been an exciting horror series for fans of Joe Hill’s best-selling novel, but the television show has also come up with a bunch of original ideas and characters, some of which Hill has also had a hand in.

NOS4A2 is a haunting coming of age story that’s told through a supernatural battle between Vic McQueen (Ashleigh Cummings) and Charlie Manx (Zachary Quinto). Season 1 of the series spends a lot of time establishing this world and the special powers that characters like Vic and Charlie possess, but with that now out of the way, season 2 is able to dig deeper into both the characters and lore.

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NOS4A2 is a very faithful adaptation to Joe Hill’s novel, but the series has also come up with some original ideas and characters that have helped elaborate the show’s wilder concepts like inscapes and creatives. The series even introduces a meeting spot where powerful creatives congregate, almost as if they’re there to rent out their abilities to those that are in need. Manx is a powerful creative in his own right, but he does reach out to get an extra hand in his battle against Vic McQueen. One of the new creatives from season 2 is actually an original creation from Joe Hill written specifically for the TV show.

NOS4A2 is based on Hill’s novel and he’s an executive producer on the series, but he hasn’t actually penned any scripts to the show. Despite this, he’s still had a level of involvement in the series and he’s been responsible for some of the most interesting ideas from this season. Speaking with ScreenRant from Comic-Con at Home, NOS4A2 executive producer Jami O’Brien revealed, “Joe did pop into the writers’ room at the beginning of season two. He pitched a character called The Hourglass Man that shows up this season.”

Jonathan Beckett, otherwise known as The Hourglass Man, is creepily portrayed by Paul Schneider and he's already proven to be one of Manx's strongest allies. The Hourglass Man is another creative who uses an hourglass as his "knife"; this allows him to manipulate people's minds until the sand in the hourglass runs out. It's a twisted, dark power that's resulted in a lot of bloodshed. The Hourglass Man is a character that very much feels like vintage Joe Hill. He now has the power of hindsight to make such curious “revisions” that still fit the universe that he’s built.

It’s a good sign for NOS4A2 that Joe Hill is spending more time in the writers room. Ideally, he’ll be able to not just further flesh out The Hourglass Man, but come up with more new characters to expand the show's universe. There’s a special quality to the original characters that he creates. On whether Hill will actually write an episode of NOS4A2 if the show receives a season 3, O’Brien said, “Joe is always welcome and appreciated. I think his level of involvement is driven by his own commitments. I'd love to have him all the time, but we'll take him when we can get him.” Either way, it looks like Joe Hill’s latest creation is set to cause a lot of trouble in season 2 of NOS4A2.

Source: screenrant.com