It’s not really worth pointing out which Stephen King books are being turned into tv shows or movies. So many of the famed author’s works get adapted, that it’s probably easier to point which books in his catalog haven’t been optioned yet. Well, that list has just become a bit shorter, as yet another work from King’s shelf is headed to Hollywood.
Anton Yelchin and Brendan Gleeson are set to star in a new TV drama based on “Mr. Mercedes,” and it has already been given a ten-episode, straight-to-series order by AT&T’s Audience Network, which is apparently a thing. TV veteran David E. Kelley (“Ally McBeal,” “Boston Legal,” “Boston Public“) has written the first episode, and will run the show that’s about a serial killer who taunts a retired police detective about his crimes, forcing the cop to try and bring him to justice. Here’s the book synopsis:
In the frigid pre-dawn hours, in a distressed Midwestern city, desperate unemployed folks are lined up for a spot at a job fair. Without warning, a lone driver plows through the crowd in a stolen Mercedes, running over the innocent, backing up, and charging again. Eight people are killed; fifteen are wounded. The killer escapes.
In another part of town, months later, a retired cop named Bill Hodges is still haunted by the unsolved crime. When he gets a crazed letter from someone who self-identifies as the “perk” and threatens an even more diabolical attack, Hodges wakes up from his depressed and vacant retirement, hell-bent on preventing another tragedy.
Brady Hartsfield lives with his alcoholic mother in the house where he was born. He loved the feel of death under the wheels of the Mercedes, and he wants that rush again. Only Bill Hodges, with two new, unusual allies, can apprehend the killer before he strikes again. And they have no time to lose, because Brady’s next mission, if it succeeds, will kill or maim thousands.
“Mr. Mercedes” is the first in a trilogy of books from King, with the third entry, “End of Watch,” arriving next month. So there’s plenty of source material to draw from. The show will debut in 2018 on DirecTV and AT&T U-verse, and if you’re read the books so far, let us know what you think about the casting in the comments section. [THR]
