Hellraiser TV Series Being Developed

Hellraiser may be heading to the small screen. According to Deadline, It producer Roy Lee and Ready Player One producer Dan Farah are collaborating on a Hellraiser TV series. Hellraiser is a popular horror franchise that features the iconic villain “Pinhead,” leader of the Cenobites. The television rights to Hellraiser belong to Lawrence Kuppin, David Salzman, and Eric Gardner. They will be producers as part of the deal.

The TV show would use the mythology of Hellraiser and its source material, Clive Barker’s novella The Hellbound Heart, to tell new stories. This may be a traditional, multi-season narrative or a seasonal anthology like American Horror Story. The producers are seeking a writer/showrunner to helm the project before pitching to networks and streaming services.

Horror is a booming genre. Breakout films like Get Out, Us, and A Quiet Place are drawing in the casual audience at the box office. Blumhouse Productions’ low budget films are breaking new ground. Classic franchises like Child’s Play, Candyman, and Saw are all in some stage of the reboot process. American Horror Story proved that horror can be ratings and awards-season success on television.

The first Hellraiser movie opened in 1987. The film was Barker’s directorial debut. The plot sees Larry Figg (Andrew Robinson) and his wife moving into the abandoned home of his late mother. An accidental spill of Larry’s blood resurrects his dead brother Frank (Sean Chapman). Frank had opened the door to the dimension that housed the Cenobites and was torn apart. To complete Frank’s resurrection, the Cenobites desire more blood. Meanwhile, Larry’s daughter Kirsty (Ashley Laurence) investigates Frank’s mysterious puzzle box. This leads her to a meeting with Pinhead (Doug Bradley), leader of the Cenobites.

Hellraiser spaned nine sequels. Bradley reprised his role as Pinhead in the first seven sequels. The first sequel not to feature Bradley was 2011’s Hellraiser: Revelation. Rumors suggested the film was shot in two weeks for $300,000 so that The Weinstein Company could retain the franchise film rights long enough to reboot. In 2013, Barker announced that he would write a remake of the original Hellraiser. Though he claimed to have completed and turned in the script, he announced in 2017 that the remake would not move forward. Instead, Hellraiser: Judgment, the most recent film in the series, released on DVD in February 2018.

Would you like to see a Hellraiser television series? Would you rather it be a traditional narrative or a seasonal anthology? Let us know what you think about it in the comments section!