According to Comicbook, Martin Scorsese (Killers of the Flower Moon, The Wolf of Wall Street) and Steven Spielberg (Jaws, Raiders of the Lost Ark) will be producing a new Nick Antosca (Brand New Cherry Flavor, Channel Zero) series based on the 1957 novel Cape Fear by John D. MacDonald (Travis McGee, A Flash of Green), originally published as The Executioners. The novel has been adapted into a film in both 1962 and 1991. The Cape Fear film from 1991 was directed by Scorsese.
Spielberg’s Amblin Television will be underwriting the series with Universal Cable Productions.
Deadline reports that the project will be an atypical take on the property and will take inspiration from both the movie adaptations and the novel. The series will be a contemporary thriller and follow a couple of married lawyers after a killer they know is released from prison after many years. It sets out to examine the current true crime obsession in America.
Along with Scorsese, and Spielberg, the Cape Fear series will be executive produced by Alex Hedlund (A Friend of the Family, The Great Wall) and Antosca through Eat the Cat. Justin Falvey (Life on Our Planet, Billy the Kid) and Darryl Frank (The Americans, Resident Alien) will also executive produce through Amblin Television.
The series currently has not been bought and is in the early stages of bidding. Deadline reports that it could potentially be bought by multiple streaming platforms, including Apple TV+, Netlfix, HBO, Hulu, and Peacock.
Scorsese’s Cape Fear film was released on November 13, 1991 and starred Juliette Lewis (Yellowjackets, Natural Born Killers), Robert De Niro (Taxi Driver, The Irishman), Nick Nolte (Angel Has Fallen, A Walk in the Woods), and Jessica Lange (American Horror Story, King Kong).
Spielberg is represented by Gang, Tyre, Ramer, Brown, & Passman and WME. Scorsese is represented by LBI Entertainment Hansen, Jacobson, Teller, and WME. Antosca is represented by Ginsburg Daniels Kallis and WME. Amblin Television is represented by WME.