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Watch the Trailer Strange Angel, a Sex Magick Period Piece Coming to CBS All Access

The devil went down to Pasadena

liam-mathews
Liam Mathews

Strange Angel, CBS All Access' upcoming series inspired by the wild life of rocket scientist/sex magician Jack Parsons, got its first trailer on Wednesday, and it looks like a heady mix of science, occult, romance, sex, genius and madness.

The series -- CBS All Access' first not based on another show -- stars Transformers: Age of Extinction's Jack Reynor as Parsons, a janitor at a chemical factory in 1930s Pasadena who dreams of building rockets that will send people to the moon. He has smarts, but he doesn't necessarily have the special sauce until he meets his new neighbor, Ernest Donovan (Homeland's Rupert Friend), who introduces him to an occult religion created by Aleister Crowley, "the wickedest man in the world." Soon, Parsons is performing sex magick rituals to actualize his dreams into reality, which doesn't sit well with his wife Susan (The Man in the High Castle's Bella Heathcote).

The trailer doesn't look as HBO as the premise. There's not a lot of sex, and it seems like the show is starting with the origin story before it gets to the real juicy stuff of Parsons working for the U.S. government by day while hosting orgies at his mansion at night. Maybe in Season 2.

The series is executive-produced by Black Swan screenwriter Mark Heyman and Ridley Scott.

Strange Angel premieres on CBS All Access Thursday, June 14, with new episodes of the 10-episode first season dropping on subsequent Thursdays.

(Full disclosure: TV Guide is owned by CBS.)