HBO Sets ‘Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone’ Limited Series Adaptation With Bruna Papandrea As EP

EXCLUSIVE: Hulu has acquired the rights to develop Adrian McKinty’s upcoming novel The Island as a limited series. McKinty will executive produce with Shane Salerno and The Story Factory. The author’s previous novel The Chain was acquired by Universal and Working Title for Edgar Wright to direct. Wright is rewriting the Jane Goldman script. No numbers were forthcoming on the deal for The Island, but sources said that if the series goes, the author’s deal will exceed the $1.5 million that Universal paid for The Chain. Sasha Silver, head of drama series, was responsible for bringing The Island into Hulu.

Love Life already has secured its place in HBO Max history as WarnerMedia streamer’s first original scripted series, which premiered at launch on May 27, 2020.

HBO announced today that Academy Award winner Barry Levinson’s latest film, The Survivor, starring Ben Foster, will premiere on the premium cabler on April 27 at 8 p.m. ET/PT, in honor of Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day)—subsequently becoming available for streaming on HBO Max.

Peacock has given a straight-to-series order to A Friend of the Family, a true-crime limited drama about the Jan Broberg kidnapping case, from Nick Antosca (The Act, Channel Zero) and UCP, with Oscar winner Anna Paquin, Jake Lacy, Colin Hanks and Lio Tipton attached to star. Eliza Hittman (Never Rarely Sometimes Always) is set to direct and executive produce multiple episodes, including the pilot.

FX has set its cast for Retreat, a limited series from The OA creators Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij. Oscar nominee Clive Owen (Closer, The Knick) Harris Dickinson (Beach Rats, The King’s Man), Alice Braga (Queen of the South, The Suicide Squad), Jermaine Fowler (Coming 2 America, Judas & the Black Messiah), Joan Chen (The Last Emperor, Twin Peaks), Raul Esparza (Law & Order: SVU, Candy), Edoardo Ballerini (The Sopranos, Dinner Rush) Pegah Ferydoni (Turkish for Beginners, Drama Women Without Men), Ryan J. Haddad (The Politician, Hi, Are You Single?) and Javed Khan (The Bay, Gangs of London) join Corrin in the series, along with previously announced Marling.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterAndrew Rannells has been cast in a recurring role in the upcoming Hulu limited series “Immigrant.”The darkly comedic series tells the true story of Somen “Steve” Banerjee (Kumail Nanjiani), the Indian-American entrepreneur who started Chippendales. Along with Nanjiani and Rannells, the cast also includes Murray Bartlett and Annaleigh Ashford.Rannells will play the rich kid investor in Chippendales New York and the love interest of Bartlett, who stars as producer-choreographer Nick De Noia.Rannells’ recent onscreen roles include “Black Monday” at Showtime and “Girls5Eva” at Peacock.

Andrew Rannells has been tapped for a recurring role in Hulu limited series Immigrant (working title), starring Kumail Nanjiani, Annaleigh Ashford and Murray Bartlett, from Pam & Tommy creator Robert Siegel.

Peacock has given a straight-to-series order to Apples Never Fall, a limited series based on Liane Moriarty’s (Big Little Lies, Nine Perfect Strangers) bestselling novel.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterLiane Moriarty’s novel “Apples Never Fall” is being adapted into a limited series at Peacock, Variety has learned exclusively.In a competitive situation, Peacock has won the rights to the book, which was published in September 2021, and given it a straight-to-series order. Since its debut, the book has sold over one million copies.The series centers on the Delaneys, who from the outside appear to be an enviably contented family.

HBO has closed a deal for Doomsday Machine, a limited series about Facebook starring Emmy winner Claire Foy as embattled tech giant COO Sheryl Sandberg and executive producing as well. Anonymous Content (Spotlight, Mr. Robot) and wiip (Mare of Easttown, Dickinson), which took the project to the marketplace in October, will co-produce with HBO.

EXCLUSIVE: The remarkable story of a Dutch woman who risked her life to shelter Anne Frank’s family from the Nazis for more than two years and then preserved Anne’s diary, is the subject of A Small Light, a National Geographic limited series ordered by Disney+. The project comes from Grey’s Anatomy alums Joan Rater and Tony Phelan, Susanna Fogel (The Flight Attendant), ABC Signature and Keshet Studios.

EXCLUSIVE: Bruna Papandrea’s Made Up Stories and Liza Chasin’s 3dot Productions have optioned the rights to Sarah Vaughan’s upcoming novel Reputation to develop as a television series. This marks Vaughan’s second collaboration with Papandrea and Chasin following the high-profile limited series adaptation of Vaughan’s Anatomy of a Scandal for Netflix.

David E. Kelley and J.J. Abrams are teaming up for a limited series adaptation of courtroom thriller Presumed Innocent for Apple.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer“Lucifer” star Tom Ellis has joined the cast of Hulu’s Sterling K. Brown-led “Washington Black” limited series in the role of steam-punk inventor Christopher “Titch” Wilde.Described as an epic nine-episode adventure series based on Esi Edugyan’s novel of the same name, “Washington Black” follows the extraordinary 19th-century adventures of George Washington “Wash” Black, an 11-year-old boy on a Barbados sugar plantation who must flee after a shocking death threatens to upend his life.

EXCLUSIVE: JJ Abrams’ Bad Robot is putting together a limited-series package based on the Stephen King bestselling novel Billy Summers. Ed Zwick & Marshall Herskovitz will adapt, Deadline hears, with Zwick directing what will likely be six to 10 episodes. The package will be shopped shortly to high-end cable networks and streamers.

The O.C. alum Adam Brody is set to star alongside Jesse Eisenberg, Lizzy Caplan and Claire Danes in FX’s Fleishman is in Trouble, a limited series adaptation of Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s bestselling debut novel of the same name, which will stream on Hulu. Maxim Jasper Swinton (Halston) and Meara Mahoney Gross (Don’t Look Up) will also be featured in the series.

EXCLUSIVE:  Tim Allen won’t be the only one suiting up as North Pole royalty for Disney+. Lost alum Elizabeth Mitchell will also return to the world of The Santa Clause to reprise her role as Carol, aka Mrs. Claus, for the streamer’s upcoming limited series. The project comes from Last Man Standing creator Jack Burditt, who serves as showrunner.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterAdam Brody, Maxim Jasper Swinton, and Meara Mahoney Gross have all been cast in the upcoming FX limited series “Fleishman Is in Trouble,” Variety has learned.The trio joins previously announced cast members Jesse Eisenberg, Lizzy Caplan, and Claire Danes. Based on Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s novel of the same name, the series centers on recently separated forty-something Toby Fleishman (Eisenberg), who dives into the brave new world of app-based dating with the kind of success he never had dating in his youth, before he got married at the tail-end of medical school.

Wilson Chapman editorPresident Joe Biden will be one of many guests for the upcoming primetime special “Celebrating Betty White: America’s Golden Girl,” NBC announced Thursday.The special, a tribute to the iconic comedic actress Betty White, will feature a taped tribute from Biden commemorating the late White, who passed away last December. NBC also announced several other stars who will appear in the special, including: Drew Barrymore, Valerie Bertinelli, Cher, Bryan Cranston, Ted Danson, Ellen DeGeneres, Jimmy Fallon, Tina Fey, Ana Gasteyer, Goldie Hawn, Vicki Lawrence, Jane Leeves, Jay Leno, Anthony Mackie, Wendie Malick, Joel McHale, Tracy Morgan, Jean Smart and Mary Steenburgen.

Al Roker Entertainment has optioned the New York Times best-selling novel The Personal Librarian (Berkley/Penguin) from authors Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray for a limited series.