The upcoming AMC+ folk horror series YAGA reimagines the traditional Slavic folktale of Baba Yaga, a fearsome witch who lives deep in the woods. The show follows “a private investigator probing the disappearance of a young fishery heir, finding himself at odds with a local detective, a charismatic professor, and a labyrinth of enigmatic suspects and ancient magic.”
Ahead of the show’s two-episode premiere on October 23, 2026, we talked with actor Sam Krochmal at TIFF 2026, who plays Billy Granger. Krochmal discusses finding Billy’s place in the series’ darker world, the challenges of filming across a staggered schedule, and what he hopes viewers take away from YAGA.
HGL: Sam, how did you get involved in the TV series YAGA?
Sam Krochmal: I auditioned for this show late last year, and it caught me at a weird time. I was moving from Toronto to Vancouver; I was already in holiday mode and didn’t think I had time for it. I remember reading the breakdown and thought, this is me, and I think that has been the realization during the process of this job that, as an actor, what a luxury it is to have a role like this come to me.
It didn’t feel like I was doing much work, so that was pretty special. I sent in the tape and kind of forgot about it. About a month later, I got the call, and it’s been a rollercoaster ride. I had no idea this is where we’d end up.
HGL: What surprised you about your character, Billy Granger, on the show?
Sam Krochmal: Throughout my career, I’ve been blessed to have been typecast as the funny/quirky guy a lot. I think that’s natural; that’s who I am as a person, and that’s really fun. Going into this job, I was under the impression that Billy was that kind of comedic device. I think what was surprising, challenging, and ultimately rewarding was working with [writer, creator] Kat Sandler and David [Frazee] and Rachel [Talalay], the directors. We didn’t want Billy to become a broad comedic device.
The stakes in the show are really high; it’s grounded and gritty and really serious for all the characters, including Billy. The moments of comedy came from him taking it so seriously and not playing into the joke, so I think that there was a learning curve there. I had to make adjustments, pull it back, and do some inner story work, and it was really rewarding.
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HGL: Because the episodes are so short, did that make it more challenging for you to manage your schedule?
Sam Krochmal: Yeah, I think for my experience, and this would be different for every actor on the show, the way we shot it was challenging. There wasn’t a lot of time to waste. Crave and Blink 49 were very efficient in how they block-shot it. What that meant for me and Billy’s character was sometimes I’d work two or three days in a week, then I would have two weeks off, and then I would come back and shoot another day.
I was making a mental tab in my brain when I was walking off set, that I can kind of pick back up when I come back on was really important to maintain some continuity and make sure there was no jarring difference in temperance or demeanor in my performance. That was definitely a challenging and unique experience in this production.
HGL: Is television your preferred medium to work in, or do you simply go where the work takes you?
Sam Krochmal: At this stage of my career, I’m blessed to work on anything, so I’m happy to take the work when it presents itself. I do think there is something really cool about television and about being able to build an arc over an entire series or season. It does present this unique challenge where a feature film might shoot in three or four weeks, whereas a series could shoot over four months.
But selfishly, as an actor who likes to build these connections and a family on set, a series allows you to do that. It’s a unique challenge, building an arc over eight or ten episodes versus a little bit of film. I think they both have their merits and I’d like to work a lot on both of them.
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HGL: What do you hope the audience takes away from watching YAGA?
Sam Krochmal: I think it’s really interesting, the Slavic folklore of Baba Yaga that this whole show is based on is fascinating in its own right but quite dated, archaic. The traditional Baba Yaga figure is kind of presented as this evil witch in the woods, grinding up chicken bones, eating children. She has bad intentions and has been labeled as evil.
I think Kat Sandler, with this modern twist on it, is kind of asking the question of who decided that she’s evil, who made that declaration of that label? I think it’s going to leave the audience pondering: if a woman is mysterious and enigmatic and powerful, does that inherently mean that she’s bad, that she has bad intentions, that she’s evil?
I also think it’s a badass display of some powerful feminine anti-heroes. I hope we get to see more of that on screen, and more women in leading roles. I think people are going to be stoked about it.
YAGA premieres on October 23rd on AMC+ and Crave.
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