‘FremantleMedia North America is doubling down on the fantastical after securing the rights to Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake with Neil Gaiman and Akiva Goldsman (A Beautiful Mind) lined up to adapt for television. The sell came from literary agent Jonathan Sissons at Peters, Fraser and Dunlop.
It marks the first television adaptation of the books since the BBC adapted the first two books – Titus Groan and Gormenghast – as a four-part series in 2000 with Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Christopher Lee starring.
The books follow the inhabitants of Castle Gormenghast, a sprawling, decaying, gothic-like structure with a raft of characters including Titus, the heir to the throne of the House of Groan, scheming kitchen boy Steerpike and twin sisters Cora and Clarice.
It is the latest FremantleMedia project for Gaiman, who already exec produces Starz fantasy drama American Gods and signed an exclusive multi-year deal with the producer last year. He will be a non-writing exec producer on the project alongside Oscar-winning writer Goldsman. It is the latter’s latest high-profile major television series, having worked on Fox’s mystery drama Fringe, Star Trek: Discovery and Titans.
Academy Award-winning Barry Spikings (The Deer Hunter) will also serve as an executive producer, along with David Stern (Howards End), who was instrumental in bringing the deal together. FremantleMedia North America is understood to meeting with potential showrunners for the project.’
Via Deadline
The Book to Screen Club 