Nicolas Winding Refn (Drive) and John Hyams (Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning) have been developing a new take on William Lustig’s Maniac Cop for a while now, and we’ve learned tonight via Deadline that the project has now taken the form of an event television series. The coolest news? It’s HBO that has given the series adaptation of the 1988 film a green light!

Refn and Hyams will both executive produce and direct, with Refn serving as show-runner.

“Set in Los Angeles, Maniac Cop is told through a kaleidoscope of characters, from cop to common criminal. A killer in uniform has uncaged mayhem upon the streets. Paranoia leads to social disorder as a city wrestles with the mystery of the exterminator in blue – is he mere mortal, or a supernatural force?”

“I’ve always been a devoted admirer of John Hyams,” said Refn. “We’ve been talking about a re-imagining of the Maniac Cop films for a number of years, but as we continued to work on the material, we found ourselves wanting to explore the world we were creating in greater depth. Turning Maniac Cop into a series will allow us to realize our wildest ambitions and to reach an enormous audience though partners HBO and Canal+. This show will be an unadulterated, action-packed horror odyssey. Given the current state of the world, though, Maniac Cop will also be a strong commentary on the decline of civilization.”

William Lustig will also exec produce the byNWR Originals series.