Nightbreed TV Series Updates: Release Date & Story Details
Clive Barker’s Nightbreed is being developed into a TV show for Syfy, so what can fans expect from a franchise that hasn’t had a new entry since the original movie in 1990?
The movie Nightbreed was an adaptation of Barker’s book Cabal that he also wrote and directed as a follow up to the huge success of his 1987 hit, Hellraiser. The story deals with an ancient civilization of mutants living under a cemetery who are drawn into a psychodrama involving a mad doctor whose goal is to kill them. The movie ends on a cliffhanger and no sequel was developed. The Nightbreed TV series may address this and continue what could be a rich, dark fantasy franchise.
The Nightbreed TV series will be the first return to this universe in decades. The project has been in development for several years, with Barker making his return in a hands-on capacity.
Clive Barker and Josh Stolberg are attached to the project in a creative capacity. Stolberg, who wrote Piranha 3D and Jigsaw, is on board as the main writer for the series while Barker will act in a consulting capacity for suggestions, lore insight, and other ideas that only the creator of the original source material can provide. He will also act as an executive producer alongside James G. Robinson, David Robinson, and Barbara Wall of Morgan Creek, as well as Mark Miller of Seraphim Films. Barker has claimed a director is attached, though a name has not been revealed.
The Nightbreed TV series will pick up where the original movie left off. The monsters of the first film are without a home following the destruction of the cemetery at the hands of violent human locals. They are led by a reluctant hero, Aaron Boone in the movie, who has gained supernatural powers after being attacked by a monster earlier in the story. Unlike the end of the movie, the hero will have to deal with the grief surrounding the death of his fiancée while being pursued by humans who want to finish off the surviving Night Breed.
Writer Josh Stolberg said villain Dr. Decker, played by director David Cronenberg in the movie, will make his return in the Nightbreed TV series despite apparently being killed at the end of the movie. Changes have been made to the story to update it to address current concerns. A renewed focus will be put on the relationship between humans and monsters as a parallel for racism and how people respond to the “other.”