Dan Stevens stars as a man arrested for a brawl and placed inside a mental hospital where something creepy lurks.
The last time I saw Dan Stevens in a psychiatric hospital was back in 2017’s Legion, where he was as a mutant with telekinetic powers.
Now in 2026 series Devil in Silver, the third volume of anthology series The Terror, he is wrongly imprisoned and fighting for both sanity and survival.
Only one episode of the series has been made available.
Prior to his world being upended, Peter ″Pepper″ Coffin (Stevens) is a working class moving man in New York City. Partner of Marisol (Juani Feliz) and her daughter he just wants to make enough money to buy a new drum kit to teach music lessons. But when his temper gets the best of him, he ends up fighting Marisol’s ex only to be himself hauled away by three local detectives.
Problem is, the cops can’t be bothered processing him so they drop him off at New Hyde mental hospital for a 3 day stay. It’s about here that I checked out of all credibility and endeavoured to enjoy the story as a genre and performance piece.
If places like New Hyde really do exist in the US medical system, and not in some Stephen King novel, then America has a lot more problems than they realise.
It’s a cold, rundown facility where, unlike The Pitt, the staff do not necessarily have your best interests at heart. And certainly none of the duty of care and processes required in 2026. To think this exists in the heart of New York is deeply concerning… but hey we’re here for the chills and spills, right?
New Hyde does have more than its share of wacky patients. They include longtime resident Dorry (Judith Light) who warns “New Hyde is hungry,” young roommate Coffee (Chinaza Uche) who tells Pepper he is exactly where he is supposed to be and staffers including Stephen Root (in his second new series this month) as a doctor so unhinged I’m waiting for him to be declared a patient, administrator Miss Chris (CCH Pounder), manager Dr. Anand (Aasif Mandvi) and, in a minor spoiler, hospital founder Dr. Walter (John Benjamin Hickey) who may or may not be of earthly presence.
When Pepper is ridiculously incarcerated into the hospital instead of being charged for a brawl, everyone tells him to behave for three days and he will be released. Any protesting will just lead to longer time. This includes imbibing daily medicines, which as anybody who ever saw One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest knows, is a roadmap to losing all control and very likely consciousness.
So it comes as no surprise that Pepper begins hallucinating that there is something in the ceiling of this old building. Or does he?
Given the premise it’s also well beyond credulity that one of the 3 cops has a change of heart about their actions and begins to take the moral high ground.
British-born Dan Stevens, who was so charming in Downton Abbey, has doubtless shown his range across a long list of American dramas and his ability to lay on the thick US accent. In Devil in Silver we feel his injustice and fear for his grip on sanity.
Buffered by the likes of skilled character actors such as Judith Light and Stephen Root, he’ll have a fight on his hands to rise above what they can achieve with just a sentence or two, so it’s just as well he is an executive producer of this saga.
There are reportedly 6 episodes of this series, down from the previous two instalments at 10 (I don’t even remember them). So it should be sufficient horror tied up in a bow without demanding too much of your time.
Any more than that and I’d really be wanting something more inventive or believable.
Devil in Silver is now screening on Stan.