IT producer Roy Lee and Ready Player One producer Dan Farah have positioned themselves to bring Hellraiser to the small screen for the first time, Deadline reports tonight. Lee and Farah "have joined forces with producer-rightsholders Lawrence Kuppin, David Salzman and Eric Gardner, who have controlled those TV rights since New World was sold in 1989."
The intention is to use the mythology established in the movie franchise and the Clive Barker novella The Hellbound Heart as a launch pad for a new series that could be anthology, or a more traditional narrative.
The producers are underway with a search for a writer-showrunner, before setting it at a network or streamer, at a time when horror is performing strongly, Deadline notes.
The first movie told the story of a man who inadvertently opens a portal to hell when he tinkers with a strange puzzle box he bought during a trip abroad. The act unleashes gruesome beings called Cenobites, creatures from Hell. The scariest is Pinhead, who became the disturbing face of Hellraiser.
As you may remember, two months ago we reported that David S. Goyer (The Dark Knight, Blade II, Batman Begins, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice) would be writing “a loyal, evolved reimagining” of the original Hellraiser as a new feature film. These projects are totally separate of one another, much like the new Child's Play remake and the upcoming "Child's Play" TV series from Don Mancini. It's unclear at this time if either project will be canonized or bring upon the return of Doug Bradley as Pinhead, regardless, it's amazing to see just how far horror has come in recent years, the Hellraiser franchise was, at one time, considered to be completely dead.
