A television series adaptation of the Oscar-winning 2006 movie The Departed is in the works. The Departed was a smash hit in 2006, and was headed up by Martin Scorsese. The recent Hollywood trend is to turn popular movies into television series, much to the dismay of audiences. Scorsese films have avoided this tradition until now, and it even seems that Scorsese himself may reimagine Shutter Island for HBO.
Discussions have been made, that will green light a television series based on The Departed, a film that itself was based on Infernal Affairs a Chinese film trilogy. This series will not be a remake of the film or even a direct adaptation. There were some rumors that suggested the series would be a prequel to the film, following Frank Costello’s (Jack Nicholson) early life. This does not seem to be the direction of the show.
Image: Warner Bros.
According to producer Roy Lee, the plan is to take the essence of both The Departed and Infernal Affairs, and do something different. They will be using the films as a template, and then moving it to a new location. In an interview with Collider at DICE 2016, Lee says:
“The Departed as a concept is amazing. That’s what attracted me to the story, the two moles working on either side of the law, and translating that idea into other settings with new characters, like how Fargo has taken the feel of the Coen Brother’s film. We were having discussions about making Infernal Affairs a television series. A different city, so it’s not anything like The Departed, but essentially The Departed as a TV series.”
If the television show is to be successful, it needs to keep the violence and edginess of the films. This is why Lee says the main focus now is on whether the show should target the networks or cable. I will keep my fingers crossed that they decide not to take the show to the networks. This is the type of show that could thrive on HBO or Starz, but with Netflix and Amazon becoming big hitters in the television show business, they could potentially be a home for the show as well.
[display-posts posts_per_page=”5″ orderby=”title”]
