Jordan Peele is taking his unique brand of horror to HBO.
The writer and director of âGet Outâ will be the executive producer behind âLovecraft Country,â a just ordered drama series based around a Matt Ruff novel about a 1950s road trip through the Jim Crow South.
On his website, Ruff describes the 2016 novel this way:
Chicago, 1954. When his father goes missing, twenty-two-year-old Army veteran Atticus Turner embarks on a road trip to New England to find him, accompanied by his uncle Georgeâpublisher of The Safe Negro Travel Guideâand his childhood friend Letitia. On their journey to the manor of Samuel Braithwhiteâheir to the estate that owned one of Atticusâs ancestorsâthey encounter both the mundane terrors of white America and malevolent spirits that seem straight out of the weird tales George devours.
Atticus discovers his father in chains, held prisoner by a secret cabal, the Order of the Ancient Dawnâled by Braithwhite and his son Calebâwhich has gathered to perform a ritual that shockingly centers on Atticus. And his one hope of salvation may be the seed of hisâand the whole Turner clanâsâdestruction.
A chimerical blend of magic, power, hope, and freedom that stretches across time, touching diverse members of two black families, Lovecraft Country is a devastating kaleidoscopic portrait of racismâthe terrifying specter that still haunts us today.
J.J. Abrams is signed on as another one of the showâs executive producers, but itâs Mischa Green, creator of the period drama series âUnderground,â who will be running things.
âWhen I first read âLovecraft Countryâ I knew it had the potential to be unlike anything else on television,â Green said in a statement provided to Deadline.
âJordan, JJ, Bad Robot, Warner Bros and HBO are all in the business of pushing the limits when it comes to storytelling, and I am beyond thrilled to be working with them on this project,â she added.
Peele has become one of the hottest stars in entertainment following the success of âGet Out,â a surprise success of a racially charged horror film that has pulled in a 99 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes and more than $200 million at the box office.
He recently signed a deal with Universal Pictures to write and direct another âGet Outâ-like film and produce many others. Thatâs good news for all of us.