Movies
‘Lot No. 249’ – “Game of Thrones” Kit Harrington to Star in BBC adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Mummy Tale
Writer and actor Mark Gatiss (Dracula, A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story) is keeping the Christmas ghost story tradition going with Lot No. 249, a new BBC adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle‘s short story. Deadline reports that Gatiss will reunite with “Game of Thrones” alum Kit Harrington for the project.
Lot No. 249 will air on BBC Two this Christmas. A U.S. distributor has not yet been named.
The adaptation ““revolves around a group of Oxford students, one of whom undertakes research into the secrets of Ancient Egypt, which become the talk of the college. Can these experiments truly breathe life to the horrifying bag of bones which is the mysterious Lot. No 249?”
Harrington will star alongside Freddie Fox (“The Great,” Victor Frankenstein). Harington will play Abercrombie Smith and Fox will play Edward Bellingham.
Colin Ryan (Boundless), John Heffernan (Dracula), James Swanton (Stopmotion), Jonathan Rigby (Father Brown) and Andrew Horton (Slotherhouse) also star in this Mummy story.
Gatiss told Deadline, “It’s a serious delight for me to delve once again into the brilliant work of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, this time for the Christmas Ghost story. Lot No.249 is personal favourite and is the grand-daddy — or should that be Mummy? — of a particular kind of end of empire chiller: a ripping yarn packed with ghastly scares and who-knows-what lurking in the Victorian closet.”
Gatiss wrote Lot No. 249, having previously adapted various Sherlock Holmes novels for BBC between 2010 and 2017, alongside former “Doctor Who” showrunner Steven Moffat.
Doyle’s short story was first published in Harper’s Magazine in 1892. Many horror fans will recognize the story from its adaptation in anthology Tales from the Darkside: The Movie, which featured Steve Buscemi as Edward Bellingham, the mastermind using a mummy to terrify and torment his enemies.
Horror could use more killer mummies, so here’s to hoping a U.S. distributor gets announced soon.
Recent comments from producer Jason Blum suggested that a retool was in order when last year’s The Exorcist: Believer wasn’t as successful as Blumhouse and Universal hoped. That certainly seems to be the case, though, as Deadline reports tonight that Mike Flanagan is in talks to direct the next Exorcist movie.
Director David Gordon Green was initially on board to direct an entire trilogy of new movies in the franchise, with The Exorcist: Believer intended to be only the first film in that three-film sequel series. Originally set to hit theaters on April 18, 2025, sequel The Exorcist: Deceiver was delayed when Green left the project.
If talks come to fruition, Flanagan will take over, likely steering the franchise in a new direction.
The first film in the trilogy was released theatrically on October 13, 2023, with Leslie Odom Jr. starring alongside a returning Ellen Burstyn from the original classic.
In Believer, “Since the death of his pregnant wife in a Haitian earthquake 12 years ago, Victor Fielding (Leslie Odom, Jr.) has raised their daughter Angela (Lidya Jewett) on his own.
“But when Angela and her friend Katherine (Olivia Marcum) disappear in the woods, only to return three days later with no memory of what happened to them, it unleashes a chain of events that will force Victor to confront the nadir of evil and, in his terror and desperation, seek out the only person alive who has witnessed anything like it before.”
The final moments of The Exorcist: Believer brought Linda Blair’s Regan MacNeil back into the fold, seeming to suggest that the legacy character could return in future installments.
As for Flanagan, the horror filmmaker has Life of Chuck on the way. Flanagan previously helmed Stephen King adaptations Doctor Sleep and Gerald’s Game, he’s also known for titles including Ouija: Origin of Evil and Oculus, along with The Haunting of Hill House, The Haunting of Bly Manor, The Midnight Club and other series.
Stay tuned for more as we learn it.
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