Remember when Hudson Williams had us emotionally invested in hockey players making heart eyes across the rink? Well, erase the ice. His next obsession involves witches, blood rituals, suspiciously attractive professors, and enough sexual tension to fog up an entire coastal town.
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The first look at Yaga has arrived, and the upcoming mystery thriller is making one thing abundantly clear: Hudson Williams isn’t interested in repeating himself. Fresh off becoming one of the breakout stars of the queer romance phenomenon Heated Rivalry, the actor is diving headfirst into something darker, sexier, and considerably more cursed.
Released ahead of the show’s San Diego Comic-Con panel, the new images introduce Williams as Henry Park, the privileged heir to a powerful fishery whose disappearance sparks a supernatural mystery. His case draws private investigator Rapp (Noah Reid) into a town crawling with buried secrets, ancient folklore, and one particularly intriguing professor played by Carrie-Anne Moss—a woman described as having “a taste for younger men.”
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We’re already intrigued.
Hudson Williams Leaves the Hockey Rink Behind
Henry’s disappearance quickly spirals into a surreal collision of mythology, dark magic, and increasingly unsettling encounters, with Williams appearing throughout in haunting flashbacks and mysterious scenes opposite Moss’ Katherine. Entertainment Weekly previously teased that the pair share a significant relationship, and judging by the footage, it’s safe to assume things get… complicated.
Created by playwright Kat Sandler, Yaga adapts her acclaimed stage play into an eight-episode thriller blending detective noir, horror, fairy tales, and feminist fantasy.
“Yaga has evolved from myth to stage to my first greenlit series, reclaiming the wicked witch and reshaping her as an incendiary feminist antihero for our time,” Sandler said.
She also described the series as “dark, funny, and unapologetically bold.” Honestly? That tracks.
Comic-Con Had Everyone Talking About Hudson
The biggest screams at Comic-Con weren’t reserved for the monsters. The trailer opens with Katherine recounting the many versions of Baba Yaga while sitting across from Henry, who one report memorably described as “slightly moist and a little horny.”
“There are versions of her all over the world. Sometimes she’s an ugly old witch. She lives in a [dilapidated] house on chicken feet. Sometimes she’s a wise woman, an enchantress, a healer. Sometimes she helps a hero on his quest. Sometimes she tests him. Sometimes she kills them. Sometimes she eats them. Sometimes she f*cks them. But, she always has a name.”
From there, the footage goes gloriously off the rails. Think sweaty hookups, bloody rituals, frantic embraces, unsettling visions, and enough chicken feathers to make you rethink poultry forever. The final moments also reveal an October 2026 premiere.
Once the trailer ended, Noah Reid delivered the line everyone in the room was probably thinking.
“[Hudson] cannot keep his hands off himself. I mean, I don’t blame him.”
Williams, who appeared in a pre-recorded message, called the experience “a blast and a wild one to film.”
Hudson Williams sends a message to the ‘YAGA’ panel at Comic-Con | #SDCC pic.twitter.com/0CDa29fUXu
— Deadline (@DEADLINE) July 25, 2026
Reid then praised his co-star’s performance as “a wild performance that is scary hot,” before adding:
“I think anyone who knows Hudson’s work from Heated Rivalry is in for an interesting ride. You’ll get to know a different side of Hudson’s actor league capabilities.”
Translation? Bring your emotional support water bottle.
More Than Just a Sexy Supernatural Ride
For all its steam and supernatural mayhem, Yaga also has something bigger on its mind. Sandler described the series as “a feminist revenge-tinged reimagining of the myth that is sexy, propulsive, vicious and scary.”
She later explained:
“I think the detective mystery element of it is a really big piece of it. And it comes so much from a pastiche of all of the stuff that I have loved my whole life…”
The trailer also features Yaga’s haunting monologue questioning how history has defined witches, reinforcing the show’s central theme of reclaiming a legendary figure long painted as the villain.
Joining Williams are Noah Reid, Carrie-Anne Moss, Clark Backo, Sheila McCarthy, Patrick Gilmore, and a stellar ensemble cast.
Yaga premieres this October on Crave before rolling out to AMC+ in the U.S., Sky in the UK and Ireland, HBO Max across parts of Europe, and additional territories later this year.
One thing’s for sure: Hudson Williams may have left queer hockey behind, but judging by Yaga, he’s about to become everyone’s newest supernatural obsession.