Stephen King’s MR. MERCEDES Will Be a TV Series with Brendan Gleeson and Anton Yelchin
AT&T's Audience Network has just greenlit a 10-episode drama series based on Stephen King’s best-selling novel Mr. Mercedes. TV writer and producer David E. Kelly (Boston Public, Ally McBeal, Chicago Hope) is developing the series and will serve as writer and showrunner. The news comes from THR, who also reports that Brendan Gleeson (Harry Potter) and Anton Yelchin (Star Trek) are set to star in the series.
The story centers on “a demented killer who taunts a retired police detective with a series of lurid letters and emails, forcing the ex-cop to undertake a private, and potentially felonious, crusade to bring the killer to justice before he can strike again. Gleeson will play Detective Bill Hodges, a retired cop who is driven out of retirement after an old nemesis reappears, while Yelchin will portray Brady Hartsfield, a mentally deranged ice cream truck driver and IT worker for Cyber Patrol (aka Geek Squad) who is secretly the Mercedes Killer.”
This is one of the few books that King has written that I haven’t read yet, but it sounds like it will make for a great series! I especially like that Yelchin will be playing the villainous character. He always tends to play the nice, quirky guy, so it will be great to see him take on a darker role than normal. He most recently starred in the film Green Room, which was also a different kind of film for him, and he was awesome in it. This will be the second Stephen King project that Yelchin will be involved with. When he was a young kid he starred in the feature film adaptation of King's Hearts of Atlantis. Then there’s Gleeson, who’s pretty much amazing in everything that he does.
Jack Bender (Lost, Under the Dome) is set to executive produce the series, and he will also direct the pilot episode. Two of King’s most recent TV series included 11.22.63 on Hulu, which was incredible, and Under the Dome on CBS which was ok. The Mist is also currently in development at Spike TV, so we’ve got plenty of Stephen King greatness coming our way.
Mr. Mercedes is set to premiere sometime in 2018, so I’ll have plenty of time to read the book before it’s released.