John Carpenter Gives Update on New Tales for a Halloween Night TV Series

John Carpenter fans were elated to learn that his Tales for a Halloween Night comic book series was being developed into a TV series at SYFY and, while that version of the project was confirmed to have died earlier this year, Carpenter himself revealed that a new form of the project is alive at Paramount. The filmmaker delivered audiences Halloween in 1978 and has been intrinsically linked with the holiday in the decades since, with the comic series honoring the spirit of the season by delivering a variety of spooky tales from compelling writers and artists within the genre, published by Carpenter’s Storm King Comics.

When asked by ComicBook.com if the Tales for a Halloween Night TV series had completely stagnated, Carpenter admitted, “Oh no, it’s alive at Paramount now.”

We likely shouldn’t expect many new details to emerge about the project in the foreseeable future, such as whether Carpenter himself will be involved with writing, directing, or producing any episodes, as the filmmaker pointed out of his involvement, “We’ll see. We’re just getting cranked up.”

Earlier this year, president of Storm King Productions Sandy King revealed that, while there was initially excitement over the series, the previously announced version of the project was more of an opportunity to cash in on the comic’s title.

“We had one [project] where SYFY wanted Tales for a Halloween Night but it quickly became evident that they just wanted the title. And I really saw a disaster on the horizon,” King revealed to ComicBook.com. “So I went, ‘No, no, no. This is not a good idea.’ It was a greenlit series but if it’s not gonna be something cool for the fans and for the eventual audience, then I don’t think it’s a good idea to do it.”

Rather than the project getting re-worked to make both parties happy, King confirmed, “It’s dead.”

While fans were initially disappointed to learn that the project was scrapped, King’s comments about the integrity of the TV adaptation should bode well for the new iteration of the project that is seemingly moving forward at Paramount.

“I think we have a pretty good idea what our fans want to see and we definitely have a pretty good idea what should come out from,” King explained. “If somebody’s a fan of that anthology, there should be a character to any show that comes out of it…it shouldn’t be just barfing up the books. It should be something that grows out of it or has a flavor of it or in some way meets the expectations or why are we giving it that title? Call it ‘Bozo Goes To Mars’ or something else.”

Stay tuned for details on John Carpenter’s Tales for a Halloween Night. Fans can meet Carpenter at Keystone Comic Con, running August 23rd to August 25th. Learn more by heading to Keystone Comic Con’s official site.

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