Hollywood’s turned its eye toward finally remaking The Birds.
Per Deadline, this new take will be a limited TV series courtesy of Universal through its International Studios offshoot. Described as a “visceral, present-day reimagining” of the 1963 Alfred Hitchcock film, Sarah Snook (All Her Fault) will play Myra Massey, a traveling magistrate returning to her isolated Alaskan hometown. It’s there that she finds her childhood friend dead and sets out to uncover what happened, occasionally impeded by bird attacks with no rhyme or reason to them.
Hitchcock’s The Birds saw a mixed reception at first, but it’s now considered one of the best horror films ever, and influential to filmmakers like Guillermo del Toro and John Carpenter. Since 2007, there’s been a handful of tries at updating it for the modern day, and there was even an attempt to franchise it with an unrelated (and widely panned) made-for-TV sequel in 1994. Both the film and this new show are based on Daphne du Maurier’s 1952 short story, but where the film was loosely based on it, the show is said be more inspired by the source material.
Universal’s been developing this The Birds show for “over a year.” Snook is the only star attached right now, but we’ll have more on it as news emerges.
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