You Won't Look At Mermaids The Same Way After Watching Freeform's Spooky New Trailer

Move over Ariel, there's a new mermaid walking on land, and she is not into singing with shellfish. Freeform released a new teaser trailer for Siren and the titular sea creature, played by Eline Powell, appears to be incredibly dangerous. The upcoming sci-fi series, which debuts on March 29, seems to take its inspiration more from the deadly sirens of ancient Greek mythology and less from Disney's animated classic The Little Mermaid. Basically, it looks creepy as hell.

Though the teaser trailer is pretty short — only 30 seconds long — the human characters all appear to be bewildered by Powell. She is evidently discovered and trapped by fisherman, and shortly after, she can be seen in a tank it what appears to be a lab. However, much like the monster in the Oscar-nominated Guillermo del Toro movie The Shape of Water, she can survive on land and has super-powered strength. Though she might not be as dependent on returning to her aquatic home as del Toro's creature, she, like Ariel, has legs when she's on land. How her tail transforms into a human's lower half remains unexplained in the trailer. Multiple people who meet this mermaid on land seem to be mesmerized by her, with multiple human characters showing romantic interest in the wide-eyed, and violently aggressive, woman/mermaid.

According to Deadline, Siren's plot will mostly focus on two marine biologists Ben (Alex Roe) and Maddie (Fola Evans-Akingbola), who are trying to investigate the siren to discover what has driven the "primal hunter of the deep sea to land." In the show, there is a legend that their sleepy fishing town, Bristol Cove, was once home to mermaids, but the truth about these creatures remains a mystery. Meanwhile, the siren, who is called Ryn on the show, is capable of throwing grown men through car windshields and tosses furniture around like its pillows, so maybe these scientists should tread carefully.

The cast is made up almost entirely of science-fiction, fantasy, and horror veterans. Powell made a guest appearance on Game of Thrones in Season 6 — she plays an actor who gets mixed up with Arya Stark in Braavos — while Roe had a part in the 2016 alien movie The 5th Wave, and Evans-Akingbola was in An American Exorcism. Ian Verdun (Lucifer) plays a local fisherman. Rena Owens, who serves the series as a mysterious "town eccentric," is in both the space-traveling sitcom The Orville and in Star Wars Episode II and III. In the latter, she played an intergalactic senator.

The exact nature of the show's mythology is pretty hazy right now. For instance, based on the teaser it's unclear if Ryn can talk. If she can't, or at least not at first, that puts her more in Little Mermaid territory. Maybe she loses her voice on land? Or just can't speak human? If her only method of vocalization is singing, however, then watch out — this could be a siren in Homer's The Odyssey situation, and she's using her voice to lure you into death.

It's also remains to be seen how the show fits in to the current mermaid trend. While mermaid-inspired looks are everywhere these days from hair colors to beauty products, and even to delicious Frappuccinos, the show is definitely a more grungy take on the genre — no brightly colored flowing locks and sunny tails here. Though, maybe this is like the vampire tend of the 10 years back and soon every network will have an original spin on the mermaid tale.

Either way, Freeform's new series kicks off with a two-hour premiere this March.