Apple TV, home of Widow’s Bay and Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, has greenlit new cult horror series Ascension, inspired by Adam Nevill‘s novel Last Days, Variety reports today.
The series hails from Children of Men and Gravity director Alfonso Cuarón, with Caitríona Balfe (Outlander) set to star.
Moreover, Alfonso Cuarón co-writes the series with his brother Carlos Cuarón as well as Natalie Erika James (Apartment 7A, Relic) and Christian White (Apartment 7A, Relic).
James and White are sharing showrunning duties. James will also serve as lead director.
The series follows “a relentless documentary filmmaker and recently divorced mother, brilliant at uncovering others’ truths but struggling to resolve her own. When Rose begins a project on a mysterious 20th-century cult known as the Church of Ascension, she finds unexpected refuge in its teachings – until she discovers something far more insidious beneath.”
Nevill’s 2012 docu-horror novel drew inspiration from Jim Jones, Charles Manson, and more to build chilling suspense centered around a cult.
It’s also a project that Cuarón has been developing for quite some time; the filmmaker previously attempted to launch a series in 2017 with Casey Affleck attached to star.
Our review of the novel describes a terrifying, if long-winded descent into cult-induced horror: “There’s nothing like scaring the shit out of a couple of skeptics, and there are moments in Last Days that are so frightening, it feels like Neville is giving your heart a bare-handed squeeze. And as a rudimentary crash course in the art of guerrilla filmmaking, Last Days is top notch.”
