A new Jonestown series is in the works at HBO, and Bill Hader is on board as the co-writer along with Daniel Zelman. The show is said to be currently in its early stages of development. The upcoming series will be based on Jim Jones and the events that happened in his Peoples Temple, infamously known as Jonestown.
Bill Hader and Daniel Zelman developing new Jonestown series for HBO
According to a recent report by Variety, an insider has revealed that a new Jonestown series is currently being developed at HBO.
Although not much information about the project has been released, the outlet reported that actor and director Bill Hader has joined the project as a writer. He will be assisted in writing by Bloodline writer and producer Daniel Zelman.
Apart from serving as a writer on the new Jonestown series, the former Saturday Night Live cast member is also the showrunner and executive producer of the series, along with Zelman. Hader will also take up the directing duties if development on the show continues, said the insider. Details regarding the cast of the show are not available, however, it is stated that Hader might also star in the series in an undisclosed role.
The upcoming series is reportedly different from the Jonestown cult series that HBO was working on in 2016. For the project being developed in 2016, HBO was working with executive producers Michelle MacLaren and Vince Gilligan to develop a miniseries. However, the project came to a halt and didn’t move forward.
Hader and Zelman’s Jonestown series will focus on the infamous cult leader Jim Jones and his Peoples Temple Agricultural Project, which was known as Jonestown. Jonestown was established by Jones in the 1950s, and it immediately became the center of world attention after the murder-suicide of more than 900 members of the facility in 1978.
The event came to be known as the Jonestown massacre, and there have been numerous adaptations of the events and books based on them.
