Deadline has reported that the the AT&T-owned Audience Network will premiere its television series Mr. Mercedes, a Stephen King adaptation, this summer.
Based on a 2014 novel by King, the story is a mix of a more grounded horror and classic mystery, following killer Brady Hartsfield as he harasses retired detective Bill Hodges, pushing Hodges to assume a (potentially illegal) personal mission to capture Hodges once and for all. The series will star Harry Treadaway (Penny Dreadful) as Brady Hartsfield and Brendan Gleeson (Calvary, In Bruges) as Bill Hodges.
This will be the second Stephen King-based television series airing this summer, as Spike’s The Mist will also premiere in June. King’s work seems to be popular source material these days, with The Dark Tower starring Matthew McConaughey and Idris Elba releasing in theaters this August and It starring Bill Skarsgård and Finn Wolfhard to release in movie theaters later in September.
Writer/producer David E. Kelley (Big Little Lies, The Practice) wrote and executive-produced the series while director Jack Bender (Game of Thrones, Lost) will be responsible for directing a number of episodes. Stephen King himself also serves as producer for the show and earlier in April, the horror author tweeted about the series, teasing a cameo of his at some point on the show. King has a penchant for being picky about approving adaptations of his work, famously condemning Stanley Kubrick’s classic horror film The Shining as not accurately capturing his novel. For King to approve of an adaptation of his work is a fairly significant deal.
Mr. Mercedes will premiere on Audience Network August 9 at 8pm. The series will also be available to stream on DirecTV Now.