FX recently announced that the network is far along in the development of a new limited series based on the early years of Grammy-winning classic rock band The Rolling Stones, as reported by Deadline. The series will allegedly cover the first decade of the band’s successful run, from the group’s formation in 1962 through to the release of their tenth studio album, Exile on Main St., according to Exclaim.
Two seasons have already been confirmed as happening, Deadline reports. All production processes fall under the purview of Left Bank Pictures, highly acclaimed independent production company responsible for marquee based-on-a-true-story media properties such as The Crown and Quiz, according to Deadline. British author Nick Hornby (High Fidelity, About Boy) has been attached as a writer on the yet-untitled Rolling Stones project, according to Deadline.
Hornby’s rock fanaticism is well known. In 2009, the Brooklyn screenwriter authored the introduction to the Michael Abramson photo book Light: On the South Side, which chronicles Chicago’s electric blues nightclub scene. This particular brand of American blues music had an unmistakable influence on The Rolling Stones’s sound. Hornby even allegedly considered sneaking cameo from one of the band’s famous members into his 2015 novel Funny Girl, per his GoodReads interview.
The legendary band’s lead singer Mick Jagger (Performance, The Burnt Orange Heresy) is no stranger to the prestige television firmament. In 2016, the rock icon co-created the HBO drama Vinyl, which was set in New York City circa 1973. Jagger was assisted in no small part by Italian-American auteur Martin Scorsese (Shine Light), journalist Rich Cohen (Sweet and Low) and screenwriter Terence Winter (Boardwalk Empire), the latter of whom penned three of the show’s ten total episodes himself. Jagger’s son James (Gangster Kittens) acted in nine episodes, as reported by Billboard.
In a Deadline interview, Winter explained what Mick Jagger brought to the table as a first-time television producer: “He’s really got an intuition about what is entertaining and what’s not and what an audience wants. When to give more, when to pull back, that sort of stuff. So right out of the gate, I was just really impressed with his understanding of structure, just the basic nuts and bolts of what we were doing.”
The Rolling Stones put out a batch of new tracks in 202o, the all-new cut “Living in Ghost Town” and the previously unreleased tracks “Criss Cross,” “All the Rage” and “Scarlet,” which features instrumental contributions from Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page.