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Stephen King’s “Mr. Mercedes” Goes to Series at the Audience Network
AT&T’s Audience Network has handed out a 10-episode straight-to-series order for David E. Kelley’s adaptation of Stephen King’s “Mr. Mercedes,” writes THR.
Brendan Gleeson (pictured below; Edge of Tomorrow, Troy, Gangs of New York) and Anton Yelchin (Green Room, Fright Night, Terminator Salvation) have been tapped to star in the drama produced by Sonar Entertainment. Mr. Mercedes will premiere in 2018 on both DirecTV and AT&T Uverse.
“Mr. Mercedes” centers on a demented killer who taunts a retired police detective with a series of lurid letters and emails, forcing the ex-cop to undertake a private, and potentially felonious, crusade to bring the killer to justice before he can strike again. Gleeson will play Detective Bill Hodges, a retired cop who is driven out of retirement after an old nemesis reappears, while Yelchin will portray Brady Hartsfield, a mentally deranged ice cream truck driver and IT worker for Cyber Patrol (aka Geek Squad) who is secretly the Mercedes Killer.
The book was published by in June 2014 and shot to the top of the New York Times best-seller list before going on to win the Edgar Award for best novel. It is the first of a trilogy from King, with the second novel, “Finders Keepers,” published in June 2015. The third, “End of Watch,” due June 7.
Kelley (“Boston Legal,” “Ally McBeal,” “The Practice:) and Jack Bender (“Lost,” “Under the Dome”) will executive produce the series, with the former set to write the first episode and serve as showrunner.
In the grim darkness of the far future there is only war, but it was a cheerful illustrator from England who helped to define the terrifying war-torn imagery that inspired what we now know as Grimdark (a hybrid genre combining horror with sci-fi/fantasy).
Unfortunately for fans of Warhammer 40,000, Trench Crusade and countless other sources of Grimdark thrills, veteran artist John Blanche passed away this week after struggling with health issues for the past few years.
While the artist retired back in 2023, he leaves us with an enormous legacy of iconic artwork that continues to inspire gamers and storytellers around the world to this very day.
The news is especially gloomy as it was only last year that Daniel Lowman and Napoleon Dynamite himself Jon Heder released The Grim & the Dark: The Search for John Blanche, a documentary following Heder’s exploration of the Grimdark genre culminating in a heartwarming encounter with Blanche in his own home.
Below is one of my favorite pieces by Blanche, his highly influential depiction of Warhammer 40k’s God-Emperor of Mankind on his Golden Throne.
We send our deepest condolences to John Blanche’s family, friends, and fans.
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