Death Note Helmer Adam Wingard To Direct Event Horizon Series For Amazon

Amazon Studios is readying a return to the infinite space and infinite terror that dogged the wayward crew of the Lewis and Clark over 20 years ago, with Death Note director Adam Wingard set to guide the grisly journey of the Event Horizon to the small screen.

While Netflix continues to excise more ambitious (and expensive) series from its slate of originals, its rivals at Amazon are continuing to swing for the fences. Per a recent report from Variety, Amazon is partnering with Paramount Television to bring a new serialized adaption of 1997's gothic, sci-fi gore-fest Event Horizon to the streaming platform — and the companies have indeed tasked genre maestro Wingard with guiding the ship on its nightmarish new journey.

While it's still a bit unclear exactly what story the series will tell, it appears the new Event Horizon may well be an expansive re-imagining of the bloody tale first told in Paul W.S. Anderson's film of the same name. For those who have never seen that original, the film has gained a certain degree of cult cred over the years, but it's hardly revered as a bonafide sci-fi horror classic. Set in the year 2047, Event Horizon — which features a brilliant cast in Laurence Fishburne, Sam Neil, Kathleen Quinlan, and Jason Isaacs — follows the crew of the Lewis and Clark space vessel sent to investigate the mysterious re-appearance of the long-lost ship Event Horizon that had been out in deep space running black hole experiments with its theoretical gravity drive. In their investigation, the crew quickly find themselves at the mercy of an ominous, all-knowing entity, and uncover all too late the unimaginable truth behind the Event Horizon's disappearance.

Pegged initially as a wannabe knock-off of the Alien franchise, Event Horizon actually has enough going on under the hood (even infusing elements from iconic sci-fi flicks like Andrei Tarkovsky's Solaris) to build a brash narrative that plays surprisingly strongly in the realm of gothic, psychological space drama. Of course, that's all before it goes full-on gore horror in its way, way over-the-top final act. We can only hope that Wingard will use this episodic take on Event Horizon to fully flesh out the characters behind the horrific story, and use the inherent psycho-drama to bolster a slow-burning approach, thus giving emotional weight to the unfolding horrors.

Either way, it'll come as good news to horror fans that Wingard apparently has no plans to leave the unseemly confines of genre fiction behind anytime soon. Since bursting onto the scene with the torturously taut home-invasion horror You're Next, Wingard cemented himself as one of the faces of the modern horror movement with equally unsettling additions to the V/H/S franchise and The ABC's of Death anthology series — as well as with the pitch-perfect '90's tinged actioner The Guest. With any luck, the just-announced Event Horizon series will help Wingard's career get back on track after a couple of underwhelming directorial turns in Blair Witch and the Netflix bomb Death Note. 

Now that Event Horizon is officially happening, it shouldn't be too long before we start hearing news of the series' casting, production, and premiere date. While we anxiously await such news, you can next see Wingard at work in 2020's Millie Bobby Brown-starring monster movie bonanza Godzilla vs. Kong, itself a sequel to the already-forgotten Godzilla: King of the Monsters. Here's hoping Wingard has a little better luck with the ongoing chaos of the Godzilla-verse.