When veering off the plot of the 19th century short story “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” by transporting Ichabod Crane (Tom Mison) to present day to solve mysteries, the producers wanted to elicit fun from the clashing of two worlds rather than persue a serious tone throughout.
“We really wanted it to be fun,” director/co-creator Len Wiseman told reporters Thursday at the Television Critics Association press tour, emphasizing the importance of finding “the right balance” between horror, suspense, fantasy and fun within the show, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
“It is a slightly different world than our own,” Wiseman added. “It needed to be dark, but dark while still being fun. … We wanted to create a movie on television. This is definitely a genre series and we wanted it to have that flavor to it, a darker look as long as the tone is fun,” said co-creator/executive producer Alex Kurtzman.
The time travel element of the show is based off the “Rip Van Winkle” tale which co-creator/supervising producer Phillip Iscove thought of and was approved by Kurtzman. Despite this borrowing, the “Rip Van Winkle” story won’t seep it’s way into Sleepy Hollow, for now, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Sleepy Hollow premieres Sept. 16 at 9 p.m. on Fox.