Man, Casey Bloys is working hard to make some content happen for HBO in the future. It seems the network has just snagged another potential project and this one is from Vince Gilligan (Breaking Bad & Better Call Saul). He will be executive producer and write a limited series about the cult of Jim Jones.
The limited series (I guess most shows will be of the limited variety from now on) has the title of RAVEN and will get us up close with Jim Jones, the infamous leader of the Peoples Temple cult who led his followers to a mass murder-suicide in Jonestown, Guyana, in 1978 when they drank poisoned Kool-Aid. Says our source the work is based on a non-fiction work entitled Raven: [amazon_link id=”1585426784″ target=”_blank” ]The Untold Story of Jim Jones and His People [/amazon_link]by Tim Reiterman, a journalist who survived the events in Guyana 38 years ago. It described as the definitive history of Peoples Temple from its idealistic beginnings to its terrible end in Jonestown. The adaptation will focus on Jim Jones but also on his followers, who, by and large, were ordinary people of good will. It tells the mysterious story of how so many of them came to give up their lives for this man.
On board to bring the series to life alongside Gilligan are actress Octavia Spencer, who owns the filming rights to the source material with Reilly Smith and Michelle McLaren a long-time partner of Gilligan at High Bridge Productions. They will all serve as executive producers with McLaren slated to direct. She has directed GAME OF THRONES episodes in the past.
It all sounds as though it could be a chilling and thrilling work and I think no one would mind Vince Gilligan creating content for HBO. Of course, right now it is just in the early development stages. We are intrigued though, aren’t you?
