‘Do you wanna come with me?’: The role of the star image as brand for the commodification of cult in mainstream telefantasy

A key strategy of TV companies in the UK and US since the late 1990s, has been to create distinctive channel brands with flagship TV shows as brands that act to convey the channel’s brand values to audiences. Mainstream quality cult shows, including Doctor Who for the BBC and Game of Thrones for HBO, have conveyed something of the brand of their respective channels in the highly competitive multi-media global TV market. In this essay, I analyse star images as brands (aspects of star image used for economic and promotional purposes), to consider their role as part of the launch and promotion of global cult telefantasy brands through promotional paratexts and their subsequent integration into the TV series narrative. Through the analysis, I argue that key aspects of star brands – particularly authenticity and intertextuality – are a central part of processes of mainstreaming, ‘cult-ification’ and generic balance, necessary to make mainstream cult telefantasy in the contemporary TV landscape. I contend this highlights the increasing importance of cult as a currency in global TV branding and of star brands in shoring up its extensive commodification. In doing so, I add to the understanding of star branding as part of the commodification of cult for mainstream telefantasy, a previously under-studied/theorised aspect of star and television studies