AGC Television has optioned rights to author Christopher Golden’s Ben Walker supernatural thriller book franchise to develop into a TV series. The deal unveiled Tuesday encompasses the prolific Golden’s 2017 bestseller Ararat that launched the series and the upcoming The Pandora Room which hits shelves in April. A third novel, Red Hands, will be published in 2020.
Golden, who helped on the screenplay for the Hellboy reboot coming later this year, will pen the pilot script based on Ararat, which won a Bram Stoker Award. AGC Studios founder Stuart Ford and TV division boss Lourdes Diaz are executive producing the project with Golden and Pete Donaldson of Donaldson Media & Consulting. A late 2019 production start is being eyed.
The book’s lead character Ben Walker is a self-described “weird sh*t expert” working for a secret arm of the Department of Defense to investigate newly discovered phenomena. The job leads Walker and his team into globe-trotting adventures, life-threatening situations and moments of true terror.
Ararat is set in the aftermath of an earthquake which reveals a secret cave inside Mount Ararat, and a daring newly engaged couple are determined to be the first ones inside. What they discover will change everything – the cave is actually a buried ancient ship that many come to believe is Noah’s Ark. Their adventure quickly turns into a horrific nightmare when a massive blizzard traps them inside. As they pray to be rescued, something wicked is listening to their prayers – and it wants to answer.
The series deal was negotiated by AGC’s Diaz, Anant Tamirisa and Matt Bankston with Adam W. Rosen on behalf of Golden.
AGC Television is now in production on War of the Worlds, starring Gabriel Byrne and Elizabeth McGovern. The company is co-producing and co-financing with StudioCanal and Fox Network Groups.
Must Read Stories
Subscribe to Deadline Breaking News Alerts and keep your inbox happy.