John Carpenter's Halloween to be adapted into Miramax’s TV series in ‘creative reset’ of horror franchise

1978 horror movie classic Halloween, directed by John Carpenter, is set to be adapted into a TV series for Miramax in a complete ‘creative reset’ of the franchise that takes the story back to its roots.

There were eight films in the original run of the horror series, each of which got a little more outlandish than the last, and all but one of which featured the iconic villain Michael Myers. The series was rebooted with two remakes in 2007 and 2009 by Rob Zombie, and again for a new trilogy helmed by David Gordon Green from 2018-2022.

Now the mainstay of the horror genre will be serialised with a new story based on the events of the very first film.

What is the Halloween horror series about?

A writer has not been picked for the upcoming series, so specific plot points are not yet known, but the film will be based around the characters and events of the original film - presumably this includes Michael Myers, his would be victim Laurie Strode (who is presented as his sister in some films), and Doctor Loomis. Myers’s psychiatrist.

The first film introduces Myers, a man who escapes from a mental hospital on Halloween night 15 years after murdering his sister in cold blood. Myers returns to his hometown of Haddonfield where he goes on a killing spree, murdering six people, though his main target, Laurie, manages to survive her first encounter with ‘the shape’.

Marc Helwig, Head of Worldwide Television at Miramax, said of the new series: “It’s a creative reset completely and going back to the original film, as opposed to spinning out of any of the more recent film adaptations.”

It’s unclear if the series will be a retelling of the events of the first film, or be a new sequel set just after the original Halloween killings took place, and we don’t know yet whether the show will be set in 1978 or be brought into the modern day.

When is the release date of the Halloween TV series?

A release date is yet to be confirmed and is likely a long way off as the script has not yet been written. Helwig said that the series is being fast-tracked, so if development and production gets underway this year, then we could be looking at a release date in time for Halloween 2025.