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EXCLUSIVE: HBO has made a deal to develop a series from the classic horror franchise Hellraiser, with Halloween helmer David Gordon Green set to direct the pilot and several more initial episodes that brings to the small screen for the first time the iconic pincushion-headed villain who heads a group of pasty-faced villains sent from hell, known as the Cenobites.

The series will be written by genre and action vets Mark Verheiden (Battlestar Gallactica, Daredevil, Heroes), and Michael Dougherty (X-Men United, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, Trick r’ Treat). All of them will be executive producers alongside Farah Films’ Dan Farah, Vertigo Entertainment’s Roy Lee, along with Lawrence Kuppin and David Salzman and Panacea Entertainment’s Eric Gardner. Rough House Pictures partners Green, Danny McBride Jody Hill and Brandon James round out the EP team. Farah Films exec Andrew Farah, and Adam Salzman will also serve as co-exec producers.



Lee (It) and Farah (Ready Player One) put together the rights package last June, based on the Hellraiser film franchise hatched from Clive Barker’s novella The Hellbound Heart. The idea is to create an elevated continuation and expansion of the well-established Hellraiser mythology. It is by no means a remake, but rather assumes the past mythology to be a given. The centerpiece remains Pinhead, the pin cushion-headed merciless leader of the Cenobites, the formerly humans-turned-demons that live in an extra-dimensional realm and are activated through a puzzle box called the Lament Configuration. The Cenobites come from hell to harvest human souls and keep balance between good and evil.

The antagonist has remained a pop culture icon for 35 years and 10 films and all the attendant merchandising.

Landing Green is a coup. The filmmaker pivoted from Stronger, an inspiring drama at Jeff Bauman’s inspiring fight back from being losing his legs in the Boston Marathon explosion, and revamped the John Carpenter horror classic Halloween, making a $10 million budget film that grossed $255 million worldwide. He signed on to shoot the sequels Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends. He’s in post on the first one.

There is a separate Hellraiser film project in development at Spyglass that is unrelated to the series.

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EXCLUSIVE: Clive Barker has joined the Exec Producing team of HBO’s developing series adaptation of his classic horror franchise, Hellraiser. Deadline broke in April that Halloween helmer David Gordon Green is on board to direct the initial episodes.

The series will be written by Mark Verheiden (Battlestar Galactica) and Michael Dougherty (Trick r’ Treat) with Verheiden running the show. They will be executive producers alongside Farah Films’ Dan Farah (Ready Player One), Vertigo Entertainment’s Roy Lee (IT), Rough House Pictures partners Green, Danny McBride Jody Hill and Brandon James (Halloween), as well as Panacea’s Eric Gardner, Lawrence Kuppin, David Salzman, and Marc Toberoff. Farah Films exec Andrew Farah, and Adam Salzman will also serve as co-exec producers.

Based on the Hellraiser horror franchise and Clive Barker’s novel The Hellbound Heart, the series is planned as an elevated continuation of the existing Hellraiser mythology. The franchise has been a global pop-culture phenomenon for over thirty years and one of the scariest. Aside from 10 films, the franchise has also spawned a book anthology, comic books, and global merchandise apparel.

Barker said he was “delighted the Hellraiser mythology is seeing a new life. It’s time the stories went back to their roots. I’m eager to bring to a new audience the most powerful and ancient elements of horror: the darkest evil invading our human lives and how we must find in ourselves the power to resist it.”

Dan Farah was instrumental in bringing Clive Barker and his rights into the project through Marc Toberoff. Farah said “Hellraiser started with Clive’s imagination and we couldn’t be more excited to have him on board.”

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