It’s been four years since John Hyams (Universal Soldier: Day Of Reckoning, Black Summer) and Nicolas Winding Refn (Too Old To Die Young) came together to announce feature film reboot efforts of William Lustic’s cult crime horror classic franchise, Maniac Cop.
That film would have already been a reality with principal photography set to begin a few years after with Wild Bunch claiming international sales rights at the time. Fast forward to 2019 and as with all things relative in entertainment, there’s been a change of strategy with Maniac Cop now taking on a serial format instead.
Set in Los Angeles, Maniac Cop is told through a kaleidoscope of characters, from cop to common criminal. A killer in uniform has uncaged mayhem upon the streets. Paranoia leads to social disorder as a city wrestles with the mystery of the exterminator in blue – is he mere mortal, or a supernatural force?
The series hails from byNWR Originals, an offshoot of byNWR.com, Refn’s culture website. Refn is serving as showrunner, and will exec produce and direct the series with Hyams for HBO in North America and Canal+ in France.
“I’ve always been a devoted admirer of John Hyams,” said Refn. “We’ve been talking about a re-imagining of the Maniac Cop films for a number of years, but as we continued to work on the material, we found ourselves wanting to explore the world we were creating in greater depth. Turning Maniac Cop into a series will allow us to realize our wildest ambitions and to reach an enormous audience though partners HBO and Canal+. This show will be an unadulterated, action-packed horror odyssey. Given the current state of the world, though, Maniac Cop will also be a strong commentary on the decline of civilization”.
Lustig is also exec producing with Nick Hall, Lene Borglum, Frederic Fiore, Alex Gayner and Efe Cakarel. (DEADLINE)