Having kicked off its original programming with the Steve Van Zandt fish-out-of-water dramedy “Lilyhammer” last month, and with David Fincher’s “House of Cards” still slated for late 2012 and Jenji Kohan’s women-in-prison comedy “Orange is the New Black” also set, Netflix continues to commit to new streaming-only series.
The latest, according to Variety, is “Hemlock Grove,” a 13-episode gothic mystery series that will be directed and executive produced by Eli Roth.
Based on a novel by Brian McGreevy, “Hemlock Grove” will star Famke Janssen (“X-Men”) and Bill Skarsgård and is set in a decaying Pennsylvania industral town in which a young girl is murdered.
Roth’s been venturing into producing, writing and acting more than directing recently (he last helmed 2007’s “Hostel II”). “Hemlock Grove” will be his first major TV venture, aside from the never-aired animated series “Chowdaheads” he apparently co-created back in 1999. He tells Variety that “Netflix as a platform is the perfect hybrid of cinema, television and social networking, with the creative freedom to go as dark as the story needs.”
Netflix’s Reid Hastings has been vocal about wanted to make the service like a cable channel, relying more and more on its own content, and the company’s been backing that up by signing on some respected directors to create series. But will these shows have the cultural impact of, say, a “Mad Men” or a “Game of Thrones”? They’re going to have to be a lot better than “Lilyhammer” for that to happen.
“Hemlock Grove” is slated for early 2013.
Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.
