Deadline just broke the best story of the day, reporting that Adam Wingard has agreed to direct the live action pilot of Robert Kirkman’s exorcist comic “Outcast.” While Almost Famous’ Patrick Fugit has been cast as the lead, Kyle Barnes. A man who’s been plagued by possessions his entire life. Kirkman’s take on the exorcism genre has been a refreshing breath of air into the genre that I consider long dead, thanks to countless lifeless approaches that boldly claim to do something new, and fail to show us anything we didn’t see in The Exorcist.
After Preacher at AMC, this is the most exciting TV news of the year.
Original Deadline report follows:
Patrick Fugit (Almost Famous, Gone Girl) has landed the lead inCinemax’s new exorcism drama Outcast, from The Walking Dead executive producerRobert Kirkman. The supernatural horror project is based on Kirkman and artist Paul Azaceta’s comic series of the same name which hit shelves this summer. Joining Fugit in the cast are British actor Philip Glenister (Life on Mars) and youngster Gabriel Bateman (Stalker, Annabelle), while rising features helmer Adam Wingard (The Guest, You’re Next) has been tapped to direct the pilot produced by Fox International Channels.
Fugit, in theaters now in David Fincher’s Oscar contender Gone Girl, will star as Kyle Barnes, a young man who’s been plagued by possession since he was a child. He sets out to seek answers, only to uncover something that could end all life on Earth as we know it. Glenister will play Reverend Anderson, a hard drinking, hard gambling West Virginian evangelical preacher who believes he’s a soldier in God’s holy war against evil. Bateman has been cast as 8-year-old Joshua Austin, a young boy who lives across town who appears to be possessed by a demon and has a mysterious connection to Kyle.
Wingard’s latest film, the psychological thriller The Guest, opened theatrically in September showcasing Downtown Abbey‘s Dan Stevens as an enigmatic stranger who brings menace into the lives of an unsuspecting family. Outcastmarks his first foray into television after directing horror features You’re Next, A Horrible Way To Die, and segments of omnibus films V/H/S, V/H/S 2, and The ABCs of Death.
Outcast was penned on spec by Kirkman for Fox International Channels, who developed it internally before Cinemax acquired the pilot script in November and greenlit the pilot this summer. Kirkman is exec producing with Chris Black, David Alpert of Circle of Confusion, Sharon Tal Yguado of FIC, and Sue Naegle.
Fugit is repped by The Gersh Agency and Levin/Brown Management. Glenister is repped by The Artists Partnership in the UK and Untitled Entertainment. Bateman is a client of Coast to Coast Talent Group and HG5 Entertainment. Wingard is with CAA and manager Jeremy Platt.