EXCLUSIVE: Hulu has found its latest true-crime documentary and it’s based on an audiobook from an Alaskan writer and musician.
The streamer is launching Blood & Myth, a doc that explores a series of shocking violent crimes that shattered a remote native village in Northern Alaska.
The doc is based on the Midnight Son audiobook, which came out in 2019 and was written by James Dommek Jr., who was shedding new light on a real-life mystery that pits Native American folklore against the US justice system.
When James Dommek Jr. first learns about a string of bloody attacks in a remote Alaskan community, the details don’t add up. At the center of the rampage is an unlikely fugitive: Teddy Kyle Smith, a fellow Iñupiaq man and actor who was greatly admired within his tribe. The mystery only deepens when Teddy is finally apprehended and makes a shocking claim: while out in the wilderness, he had a frightening encounter with Iñukuns — sinister beings well-known and long-feared by the Iñupiaq people – and that they had guided his violent actions.
To the Western courts, Teddy’s tale of Iñukuns fell on deaf years. But having grown up north of the Arctic Circle, Dommer Jr. knew all too well of the frightening stories of “the little people” – whose existence is accepted as fact by northern native communities and supported by first-person accounts and chilling sightings. Obsessed by the story, James embarked on a journey back to the village to uncover the truth behind what Teddy allegedly saw in those mountains. Was it possible that those myths from his childhood were true? In search of answers, his years-long odyssey took him deep into the heart of uncharted Alaska, where myth and reality collide, and where he must confront his own demons to unravel the mystery behind the Iñukuns.
Blood & Myth will premiere September 4 on Hulu in the U.S. and Disney+ in English speaking territories internationally.
It is directed by Kahlil Hudson and produced by Jonas Bell Pasht and Jonah Bekhor for Citizen Jones. Dommek Jr. exec produces alongside, Isaac Kestenbaum, Josie Holtzman and Hudson. Mike Langer and Derek Doneen serve as co-exec producers.
