Friday has brought the frightful news that David Farr, the writer behind The Night Manager and Hanna, is in the process of developing an adaptation of John Wyndham’s sci-fi novel The Midwich Cuckoos for television. As per Deadline's exclusive report, Farr is converting the novel into an eight-part series for Sky, a European broadcaster owned by Comcast. Previously Wyndham’s novel served as the inspiration for three films, two of which were titled VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED.
Wyndham’s 1957 story centers on "the sleepy English village of Midwich, where a strange sequence of events culminates in the community’s women falling pregnant with alien children with glowing eyes and otherworldly powers."
The first adaptation of Wyndham's novel arrived in 1960, courtesy of director Wolf Rilla. A sequel to Rilla's film was later released in 1964 under the title CHILDREN OF THE DAMNED. The sequel centered around six impossibly intelligent children from all over the world with dangerous psychic powers who take shelter in a church in England after the military tries to experiment on them. Besieged, they warn the military to back off before carnage ensues. The most recent iteration of Wyndham's terrifying tale was released in 1995 thanks to one of Horror's many masters, John Carpenter.
In a time when plenty of film properties are being relaunched, now feels like as good a time as any for THE VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED to receive the old spit shine. We'll be keeping an eager eye on this one, and hope that it scares the bejesus out of us when Wyndham's creepy kids return to the screen.