Gugu Mbatha-Raw stars in Sky's Possession this August
Sky has released the official trailer for Possession, the five-part supernatural thriller starring gugu mbatharaw as Bristol lawyer Claudia. All episodes drop Thursday 6 August on Sky and NOW, as the Jamaican-set series digs into inheritance, identity and a plantation's haunted past.
Key Takeaways
- Possession is a five-part Sky Original limited series, formerly titled Inheritance.
- Gugu Mbatha-Raw leads as Claudia, joined by Jonny Lee Miller, Sheldon Shepherd and Bel Powley.
- Karla Crome created and wrote the series; Storm Saulter directed on location in Jamaica.
- All episodes arrive Thursday 6 August on Sky Atlantic and NOW from 21:00.
- British Vogue's set visit frames it as gothic prestige TV exploring slavery's unpaid debt.
What is Possession about and who stars in it?
Claudia is an ambitious mixed-race lawyer whose link to her Caribbean heritage faded after her Jamaican mother died shortly after giving birth. Her firm sends her to Jamaica to represent Oliver Connaught, the son of a wealthy white aristocrat descended from slave owners, after his inheritance is mysteriously left to Jamaican man Cudjoe East.
When Claudia confronts Cudjoe, he claims to be a 300-year-old formerly enslaved eyewitness to plantation brutality, now claiming the property as reparations. Sky confirms the disputed estate is Hope Hill, the Connaught family's former plantation—and the place that has haunted Claudia's nightmares.
Bel Powley plays Charlotte, described in Vogue's first look as a lonely, sadistic white mistress sliding into supernatural darkness. Nadean Rawlins portrays Claudia's estranged aunt Mercy, with further roles for Sean Gilder, Olunike Adeliyi, Richard Dillane, Diveen Henry, Jack Bandeira, Shantol Jackson, Jeff Crossley and Safina Simpson.
When can you watch Possession on Sky and NOW?
Sky says every episode of the five-part limited event series will be available Thursday 6 August on Sky and streaming service NOW. Schedule roundups place the launch at 21:00 on Sky Atlantic, with the full run ready to binge the same night.
The trailer drop puts the series firmly on August calendars for fans tracking celebrity breaking news, especially after Mbatha-Raw's turns in Loki and Surface. NBCUniversal Global TV Distribution is handling international sales.
Why does the series matter for Gugu Mbatha-Raw fans?
British Vogue's exclusive first look casts Mbatha-Raw as brilliantly suited to blinkered, repressed Claudia, whose journey into her Jamaican ancestral home upends a carefully contained life. Writer Karla Crome, making her sole-writer scriptwriting debut on Possession, calls the tone gothic—closer to The Woman in White or Jane Eyre than conventional horror.
Jamaican director Storm Saulter, known for Better Mus' Come and Sprinter, leans into authenticity with Junkanoo festival sequences and a Nine Night rite, while slipping humour into heavy themes—including Claudia defending herself with a tin of ackee. Crome says the team feared Hollywood "voodoo" cliches around obeah; Jamaican screening feedback that it felt "so Jamaican" was the praise they wanted.
Possession is produced by Snowed-In in association with Sky Studios, from an original story by Jefferson Bannis. Executive producers include Ruth Kenley-Letts, Jenny van der Lande, Neil Blair, Crome, Saulter, Sam Hoyle, Serena Thompson, plus Mbatha-Raw and Miller. If you want a supernatural thriller with star power and cultural bite, mark 6 August.