Rejoice, horror fiends, because David Cronenberg’s 1981 cult horror Scanners is being developed as a series over at HBO Max. THR reveals that William Bridges, the Emmy-award winning writer of the “USS Callister” episode of Black Mirror, is aboard as showrunner and writer for the series, while Lovecraft Country pilot helmer Yann Demange is set to direct. Both will also executive produce with Cronenberg.

The first mainstream success for horror legend Cronenberg, Scanners follows a small group of people with a range of psychic, telepathic, and telekinetic powers, known as “scanners”. One faction of these scanners is led by the power-mad Revok (Michael Ironside), who aims to take over the world; meanwhile, a private security firm recruits its own scanners to stop him for its own (probably shady) reasons.

As for the series adaptation, it’s being described as a visceral thriller set in the mind-bending world of Cronenberg’s film. It will focus on two women living on the fringes of modern society who are pursued by relentless agents with unimaginable powers and thus must learn to work together to topple a vast conspiracy determined to bring them to heel.

Stay tuned for more news on this project as we hear it!

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