Abhiroop Das
Created by John Griffin, ‘From’ is set in a town that seemingly has no name, no history, and no sense of shared identity attached to it. All the town can offer instead is a sense of unending dread and despair over the horrors that descend each night. Strangers from all over the country end up here after their route is blocked by a mysterious tree, and once in, there appears to be no way out. As the people come together to endure the nightly creatures and make this town their home, we become familiar with its unique geography. There are trees that slowly move towards the town, hollows that serve as portals to different spaces, and other phenomena, both natural and supernatural, that come to define this horror thriller series.
The Town in From Was Created as a Response to the Psychological Toll of the 9/11 Attacks
The unnamed, supernaturally charged town that lies at the heart of ‘From’ is a fictional setting created by John Griffin, Jeff Pinkner and the writing team. The inspiration for this town, though, doesn’t lie in a geographical point as much as it lies in Griffin’s mind. Talking to TV Fanatic, he traced the idea behind the setting to his thoughts after the September 11 attacks, particularly the fear of suddenly losing the reality people take for granted. “We self-identify so much with the context of the reality around us,” he explained, positing “what if that was all to be ripped away and replaced by a nightmare.” It is this exact concept that is central to the town, explaining the feeling of isolation, paranoia, and pure, visceral fear it induces amongst its inhabitants.
For Pinkner, the origins of the town can be linked back to the iconic TV show ‘The Twilight Zone.’ More specifically, the town in ‘From’ builds on the tropes and narrative devices that ‘The Twilight Zone’ popularized, which Pinkner described as a “crucible for each of these people and what they are going through in their lives,” while talking to Syfy. ‘The Twilight Zone’ is not the only inspiration behind the show’s setting either, as the creative team also drew a lot from ‘Lost,’ arguably one of the most popular shows featuring people stranded in an unfamiliar, seemingly hostile place.
Both Pinkner and director Jack Bender are veterans of ‘Lost,’ and that shaped much of their perspective on how such mystery-box narratives should unfold. Bender recalled that by the time he was approached for the show, Griffin already had a detailed mythology about the town and all its supernatural elements. Neither he nor anyone involved with the production has ever named a real-life town or historical settlement as the inspiration for the show. The town itself is filmed in Beaver Bank, Nova Scotia, with the crew designing an entire settlement with elaborate sets and constructs just to complete the illusion on screen.
The Town Has a Few Vague Parallels With the Lost Colony of Roanoke
Interestingly, the lore and mystery surrounding the town in ‘From’ do feel vaguely reminiscent of the real-life mystery of the Lost Colony of Roanoke. In 1587, English governor John White led 117 people to Roanoke Island, off the coast of present-day North Carolina, intending to establish an English settlement. Later that year, he came back to England for additional supplies, and various circumstances delayed his return to the island until 1590. Allegedly, White found the settlement completely abandoned, with no clear signs or evidence to explain it. The most significant clue was the word “CROATOAN,” carved into a post, alongside the letters “CRO” found on a nearby tree.
Croatoan referred to a neighboring island, known today as Hatteras Island, and its local tribe. White, who had previously instructed the settlers to leave a message if they moved, seemingly assumed they had shifted there. According to his writings, he never found any of the inhabitants ever again, and their apparent disappearance has been the subject of much discourse and analysis ever since. Historians have considered that the settlers might have separated into smaller groups, or joined indigenous communities, but no clear explanation has emerged as of writing.
The absence of human remains, gravesites, or new settlements clearly linked to the people has also made the mystery harder to solve, leading to speculation online and beyond. This is not too dissimilar from how people seemingly leave reality behind in ‘From’ and find themselves in an unnamed, inexplicable town. While the creators have never mentioned the story of Roanoke Island as one of their inspirations, it simply goes to show how reality can often be strange enough to mirror fictional constructs.
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