Turner has announced BAFTA-nominated director Jakob Verbruggen (London Spy, The Fall) will direct the first two episodes of The Alienist TV show for TNT, and possibly more. He replaces True Detective‘s Cary Fukunaga, who wrote the entire first season. Fukunaga executive produces with Eric Roth, Hossein Amini, Steve Golin, and Rosalie Swedlin  Production is slated for Budapest in 2017.

Based on Caleb Carr’s novel of the same name, the Gilded Age psychological thriller is set in New York City in 1896. The Alienist features a series of murders of boy prostitutes. Theodore Roosevelt, the new Police Commissioner, enlists criminal psychologist criminal psychologist (i.e. alienist) Dr. Laszlo Kreizler, and newspaper reporter John Moore, to conduct a secret investigation. Get the details from this TNT press release.  

Critically Acclaimed Director Jakob Verbruggen To Helm TNT’s “The Alienist”

Drama Series Based on Caleb Carr’s Bestseller, Executive-Produced by Cary Fukunaga And Co-Produced by Paramount Television and Studio T

BAFTA-nominated director Jakob Verbruggen (London Spy, Black Mirror, The Fall) will direct The Alienist for TNT. The series is executive-produced by Emmy(R) winner Cary Fukunaga (True Detective) and co-produced by Paramount Television and Studio T, Turner’s in-house studio that creates and owns original content for TNT and TBS. It is produced in association with Academy Award(R) winner Eric Roth (Forrest Gump), Oscar(R) nominee Hossein Amini (Drive) and Anonymous Content’s Steve Golin and Rosalie Swedlin serving as executive producers. Production will begin in early 2017 in Budapest.

Based on the international best-selling novel by Caleb Carr, The Alienist is a psychological thriller set in the Gilded Age of New York City in 1896, a city of vast wealth, extreme poverty and technological innovation. When a series of haunting, gruesome murders of boy prostitutes grips the city, newly appointed police commissioner Theodore Roosevelt calls upon criminal psychologist (aka alienist) Dr. Laszlo Kreizler and newspaper reporter John Moore to conduct the investigation in secret. They are aided by a makeshift crew of singular characters, among them the intrepid Sara Howard, a young secretary on Roosevelt’s staff who is determined to become the first female police detective in New York City. Using the emerging disciplines of psychology and early forensic investigation techniques, this band of social outsiders tracks down one of New York City’s first serial killers.

Verbruggen is a seasoned director with an extensive and critically lauded career behind the camera. His credits include directing the award-winning television series London Spy, The Fall and Code 37. Most recently, he directed an episode of the anthology series Black Mirror and the penultimate episode and season four finale of House of Cards.

“Jakob will capture the intensity of this edge-of-your-seat thriller,” said Sarah Aubrey, executive vice president of original programming for TNT. “The Alienist’s unique setting and characters, along with its pervasively tense and unsettling mood, couldn’t be in better hands.”

“No one can bring The Alienist to life better than director Jakob Verbruggen and the stellar producing team of Cary Fukunaga, Eric Roth, Hossein Amini and Anonymous Content,” said Amy Powell, president of Paramount Television and Digital Entertainment. “TNT is the perfect home for Caleb Carr’s intense and emotional crime story during the iconic gilded age in New York’s history. Paramount TV is excited to add this psychological thrill ride to our upcoming slate.”

About Paramount Television

Paramount Television develops and finances a wide range of creative television programming across all media platforms. Its robust slate of programming with top distributors includes the five-time Emmy(R)-winning live musical event Grease: Live (FOX), which holds the record-breaking telecast title with more than 17 million viewers worldwide and is ranked as the #1 most social live musical event ever; the Emmy(R)-nominated Nickelodeon hit School of Rock; Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan (Amazon); Thirteen Reasons Why (Netflix); Maniac (Netflix); Shooter (USA); Berlin Station (EPIX); The Alienist (TNT); Fatal Attraction (FOX); Galaxy Quest (Amazon); Varsity Blues (CMT); and The Warriors (Hulu). Paramount Digital Entertainment (PDE) has developed series such as Bajillion Dollar Propertie$ (NBCUniversal’s Seeso), The Hotwives of Orlando and The Hotwives of Las Vegas (HULU), Resident Advisors (HULU), Beef (Fullscreen) and the one hour special, Crash Test (Comedy Central and Vimeo).

Paramount Television and Paramount Digital Entertainment are part of Paramount Pictures Corporation (PPC), a global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment. PPC is a subsidiary of Viacom (NASDAQ: VIAB, VIA), a global content company with premier television, film and digital entertainment brands.

About TNT

TNT, a division of Turner, is one of cable’s Top 5 networks among young adults and home to cable’s most popular slate of original series, including Animal Kingdom, The Last Ship, The Librarians, Murder in the First, Major Crimes and the upcoming Good Behavior, Will, Foreign Bodies, The Alienist and Tales from the Crypt, as well as the unscripted series The Race Card. TNT is also the cable home to popular dram as like Bones, Castle, Charmed, Grimm, Hawaii Five-0 and Supernatural; primetime specials, such as the Screen Actors Guild Awards(R) and the iHeartRadio Music Awards; and championship sports coverage, including the NBA and the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship.

Turner, a Time Warner company, creates and programs branded news, entertainment, sports, animation and young adult multi-platform content for consumers around the world. Turner brands and businesses include CNN/U.S., HLN, CNN International and CNN.com, TBS, TNT, TCM, truTV, Cartoon Network, Boomerang, Adult Swim, Turner Sports, Bleacher Report, iStreamPlanet and ELEAGUE.

What do you think? Have you read Carr’s novel? Do you plan to watch The Alienist TV series when it premieres on TNT.