“Darby and the Dead” is not about your average high schooler. “Are you sitting down for this? I see dead people. I help them pass on to the next realm,” Darby (Riele Downs, “Henry Danger”) expains in a new trailer for the Hulu comedy.
Written by Becca Greene (“Good Vibes”) and Wenonah Wilms (“Horsehead Girls”), “Darby and the Dead” follows a teen who gained the paranormal ability to see and communicate with the dead following a near-death childhood experience. But to the introverted Darby, counseling lonely spirits is still less gruesome than navigating high school, where she is subjected to constant mistreatment from head cheerleader Capri (Auli’i Cravalho, “Moana”)
Things change when Capri suddenly dies by electrocution in a freak hair straightening accident at school. The cheerleader’s spirit refuses to rest because she has unfinished business: her 17th birthday party. Capri enlists Darby’s help to convince her friends to carry on the celebration. “All I want is this party,” the cheerleader’s spirit implores in the trailer. “Then I’ll move on.”
Naturally, Darby is loath to fulfill the dying wish of her tormentor. “In what world do you think I can throw your dream party?” she asks the ghost. “In a world where I make you popular enough to do it,” Capri replies.
“In order to appease the wrath of the undead diva, Darby must emerge from her self-imposed exile and reinvent herself — which along the way allows her to find new joy back in the land of the living,” the series’ synopsis details.
“Darby and the Dead” launches on Hulu December 2.