Director of Trick ‘r Treat To Helm Nightbreed TV Series

It’s all true. God’s an astronaut, Oz is just over the rainbow and TV will soon be where the monsters of Midian live. Coming Soon reports that Trick ‘r Treat and Godzilla: King of the Monsters director Michael Dougherty will helm a new series based on the 1990 film Nightbreed, itself an adaptation of Clive Barker’s 1988 novel Cabal. The series has been in the works since 2018.

Barker confirmed the news himself. He said: “It’s exciting, after 30 years, to go back to these characters and find out who’s still speaking to me, who wants their story told. My tongue isn’t in my cheek when I say that as when I start a piece, it’s listening. The writing is a piece of listening, I’ve always said I was a journalist and what I was reporting on was the space between my ears.”

Barker wrote and directed the original 1990 films, which starred Craig Sheffer, Anne Bobby and David Cronenberg. While a cult favorite, it was notorious for being hit with studio meddling that caused it to become a commercial and critical failure. After years of rumors, a director’s cut was finally given a wide release on home video by Shout Factory in 2014, to acclaim from fans.

The new series will be written by Barker and Josh Stolberg (Jigsaw). It will focus on the themes of race relations between the world of humans and monsters that played a role in the original film, only giving it a more modern take. Morgan Creek’s James G. Robison, David Robinson and Barbara Wall will executive produce with Barker and Mark Miller of Seraphim Films.

Dougherty is also working as a writer and executive producer on a Hellraiser series for HBO, which was announced earlier this year. That show will be an “elevated continuation and expansion of the well-established Hellraiser mythology.”