Hostel TV series starring Paul Giamatti finds a home at Peacock
Two years ago, Eli Roth said that he was interested in returning to the Hostel and Cabin Fever franchises – and within six months of him saying that, we learned that a Hostel TV series was in the works, with Paul Giamatti (The Holdovers) attached to star in the show. It was said that the series would be coming our way from Fifth Season, the studio behind Apple’s Severance, with Roth, Chris Briggs, and Mike Fleiss on board as executive producers. Roth and Briggs are also writing the project, which Roth will be directing, the aim being to reinvent the franchise as an “elevated thriller.” Now, a year later, Variety reports that the Hostel TV series has found a home at the Peacock streaming service!
As Variety reminds us, in the Hostel franchise, innocent tourists are kidnapped by a mysterious group known as the Elite Hunting Club operating out of Eastern Europe, with the group’s rich clientele paying to torture and murder the tourists. The first film was released in theaters in 2006, with Roth writing, directing, and producing. Roth also wrote, directed, and produced Hostel: Part II in 2007. A third film (which moved the setting to Las Vegas) was released direct to video in 2011, though Roth was not involved in the production. Collectively, the first two films in the franchise grossed nearly $120 million globally despite costing just $4.8 million and $10.2 million respectively to produce.
We found out Roth was interested in continuing the Hostel and Cabin Fever franchises when he told CinePOP, “Hostel, there’s a lot more to do. I’d love to go back to Hostel at some point. And Cabin Fever as well. They’re a part of me, like my children, and I feel like I’ve been ignoring them for too long. I’d love to go back to them, in some way. I have ideas.“
Giamatti remains attached to star in the Hostel TV series, which is said to still be in the development phase. In 2013, Giamatti revealed to Entertainment Weekly that he almost made a cameo in the original Hostel: “Eli was shooting Hostel in Prague and I was shooting The Illusionist and I met him. We talked about me actually killing somebody in that movie but it never panned out.” Now it looks like Giamatti and Roth are going to make up for lost time.
The Chucky series has come and gone at Peacock (it also aired on Syfy and USA Network) and they’re working with A24 on the Friday the 13th series Crystal Lake, so they clearly have a strong interest in TV shows that are based on established horror franchises.
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