Guillermo Del Toro to direct pilot for Amazon series Carnival Row

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Remember hearing about A KILLING ON CARNIVAL ROW? Back in 2005 Guillermo Del Toro was set to direct the film for New Line from a spec script by Travis Beacham (who would later go on to write the script for Del Toro's PACIFIC RIM), but he ended up leaving the project. Directors Neil Jordan and Tarsem Singh were also attached to the movie, but they left it as well after several studios decided to pass on the film.

A KILLING ON CARNIVAL ROW isn't dead, however it will no longer be a feature film. THR has learned Legendary Pictures will develop it into a TV series called Carnival Row for Amazon Studios, with Guillermo Del Toro co-writing the script for the pilot with Travis Beacham and Star Trek: TNG scribe Rene Echevarria. Del Toro will direct the pilot, and executive produce the series with Beacham and Echevarria.

Carnival Row is set "in a noir, Victorian-tinged city where humans, fairies and other creatures co-exist," and apparently has steampunk elements. Travis Beacham's original script followed a "detective investigating a serial killer who is preying on mystical creatures, only to find that he has become the prime suspect in the murders." Yup, sounds like a Guillermo Del Toro project to me. THR also says Del Toro will direct the pilot this spring before he starts work on PACIFIC RIM 2. Are you interested in checking out Carnival Row?

Guillermo Del Toro's CRIMSON PEAK starring Tom Hiddleston, Jessica Chastain, Charlie Hunnam and Mia Wasikowska will be in theaters on October 16, 2015.