Walking Dead Network AMC Opens Writers' Rooms for Two New Series

AMC Networks has opened a pair of writers' rooms to develop two new potential series for AMC and the AMC+ streaming service. The Walking Dead and Anne Rice's Interview With the Vampire cabler is developing the projects under its "scripts-to-series" model, forming writers' rooms to "develop prospective series that, in success, move straight-to-series," AMC said in a press release. The prospective shows are a series adaptation of author David Ely's Seconds, which inspired the 1966 film starring Rock Hudson, and The Devil in Silver, another novel adaptation from the showrunner of AMC's Halt and Catch Fire.

AMC describes the two potential series:

Seconds is a radical reimagining of the cult classic with a female lead at its center. When Claire Munro's world is suddenly turned upside down, she's given a chance to start life over with a clean slate. But can she really leave everything behind, or will she find herself diving back into the mysteries of her past?

The series, based on the novel by David Ely, is from creator and showrunner Mark Lafferty (The Right Stuff, Halt and Catch Fire) and its executive producers include Mark Johnson (Gran Via), Melissa Bernstein and Peter Douglas.

The Devil in Silver, a psychological horror drama, tells the story of Pepper – a working class man from Queens who, through a combination of bad luck and a bad temper, finds himself wrongfully committed to a psychiatric hospital. There, he must contend with other patients, doctors who harbor dark secrets of their own, and perhaps even a true and even more terrifying evil.

The series is from creator and executive producer Victor LaValle, based on his novel of the same name and showrunner Christopher Cantwell (Halt and Catch Fire). Executive producers include Scott Free, EMJAG and Entertainment 360. The Devil in Silver is potentially the first season in a new horror anthology series planned for AMC and AMC+ that will feature average people caught up in horrific stories in the landscape of today's world.

"These are two gripping and fast-paced psychological dramas from great creative talent we are looking forward to exploring in the coming months," said Dan McDermott, president of entertainment and AMC Studios for AMC Networks. "As we continue to establish AMC+ as the home of premium marquee content for adults, these projects are both right in the sweet spot of that brand and value proposition – great stories with unforgettable characters that break through and say something about our broader world. They also are both include members of the Halt and Catch Fire creative team, which should excite viewers as much as it does all of us. Here's hoping that these respective writers' rooms are indeed the things that get us to the thing."

Along with The Walking Dead Universe — which is expanding with three new spinoff series in 2023 — AMC+ is launching Pantheon, the service's first traditionally animated series; Anne Rice's Interview with The Vampire, an adaptation of Rice's bestselling novel; and Anne Rice's Mayfair Witches, the second greenlit series in what AMC Studios calls "an expanding Anne Rice universe."

"The message we tell people is we don't want to be a popcorn, disposable platform. We want to make the show you've been trying to make for 10 years," AMC chief McDermott said Wednesday during the company's AMC Networks Summit, citing such creators and series developers as Matt Weiner (Mad Men), Vince Gilligan (Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul), and Frank Darabont (The Walking Dead).