'The Alienist' Trailer: Dakota Fanning Hunts A Serial Killer

As anyone who read Caleb Carr‘s best-selling “The Alienist” knows, the material is both intelligent and lurid. Giving the lengthy book a limited series treatment on TV is the right move, but will be the story be blunted by network considerations on TNT? Well, NBC certainly pushed the envelope with “Hannibal,” and if the early trailers for “The Alienist” are anything to go by, the creators are getting the spirit of the story right on.

Executive produced by Cary Fukunaga, and starring Luke Evans, Dakota Fanning, and Daniel Bruhl, the story is set just before 1900, and follows the unconventional team up between a psychologist (using groundbreaking methods), a newspaper reporter, and a woman police officer to try down a ruthless serial killer. Here’s the official synopsis:

The Alienist is an upcoming American drama television series based on the novel of same name by Caleb Carr. The psychological thriller drama is set in 1896, when a series of gruesome murders of boy prostitutes has gripped the city. Newly appointed top cop Teddy Roosevelt calls upon Dr. Laszlo Kreizler, a criminal psychologist — aka alienist — and newspaper illustrator John Moore to conduct the investigation in secret. Joining them in the probe is Sara Howard, a headstrong secretary at Police Headquarters.

“The Alienist” arrives on TNT in 2018.