Get Out writer/director Jordan Peele already has a new project! He’s teaming up with J.J. Abrams to oversee a television adaptation of Matt Ruff’s novel Lovecraft Country into what Deadline describes as “an anthological horror series that reclaims genre storytelling from the African-American perspective.” HBO has given the one-hour drama a straight-to-series order.
Peele and Abrams will serve as executive producers along with Misha Green, creator of the TV series Underground, about the Underground Railroad. Green will write the pilot and serve as showrunner.
In Ruff’s novel, 22-year-old Army veteran Atticus Turner searches for his missing father. Accompanied by his Uncle George and childhood friend Letitia, they encounter both “the mundane terrors of white America” as well as malevolent forces like something out of the impossible tales that George reads. Their journey brings them to the manor of the Braithwhite family, the estate that once owned Atticus’ ancestors, where they discover a dark ritual that can’t begin until their arrival.
“When I first read Lovecraft Country I knew it had the potential to be unlike anything else on television,” Green said in a press release. “Jordan, JJ, Bad Robot, Warner Bros and HBO are all in the business of pushing the limits when it comes to storytelling, and I am beyond thrilled to be working with them on this project.”
Both Peele and Green tweeted their excitement about the project:
‘Lovecraft Country’ is more of a social thriller/horror/sci fi/ based on Matt Ruff’s book; the amazing @MishaGreen will helm the show! https://t.co/xGuRpVj8Gj
— Jordan Peele (@JordanPeele) May 16, 2017
Listen. No words 4 how excited I am to tell genre stories where the black folks don’t die first.?& with @JordanPeele 2! ??#LoveCraftCountry https://t.co/THojfGl3uG
— Misha Green (@MishaGreen) May 16, 2017
