Apple has unveiled the release date and first-look images for its upcoming thriller series Black Bird, formerly known as In With the Devil. The true-crime story follows a convicted felon who is given the choice to reduce his sentence if he risks his life to enter a maximum security prison, befriend a serial killer, and manage to get a confession about the extent of the psychopath's crimes. The six-episode series is set to premiere in early July.
The first-look images reveal series protagonist Taron Egerton in character as Jimmy Keene. Egerton sports a different hairline and a grim look that diverts from the outgoing types of characters the Welsh star is used to playing. The images also show Egerton face to face with Paul Walter Hauser, who plays serial killer Larry Hall.
The true-crime limited series is set to subvert its genre by putting an inmate at the investigative end of the story, as opposed to police detectives or private investigators that the public is used to seeing in other TV shows and movies. The stakes are pretty high: Keene has not only to extract a full confession from Hall, but also find out where the bodies of several young girls that the serial killer murdered might be buried.
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Black Bird is developed by Dennis Lehane, who is no stranger to crime stories: he’s the one who wrote the novels that inspired widely acclaimed movies like Mystic River, Gone Baby Gone, and Shutter Island. In addition, Lehane also wrote HBO’s The Outsider and Mr. Mercedes. He adapts Black Bird from the true crime memoir In With The Devil: A Fallen Hero, A Serial Killer, and A Dangerous Bargain for Redemption by authors James Keene and Hillel Levin.
The first three episodes of Black Bird are directed by Academy Award nominee Michaël R. Roskam. Aside from Egerton and Hauser, the cast also features Sepideh Moafi, Greg Kinnear, and Ray Liotta.
Apple TV+ premieres the first two episodes of Black Bird on July 8. The remaining four episodes will roll out weekly. Check out the official synopsis here:
Inspired by actual events, when high school football hero, decorated policeman’s son, and convicted drug dealer Jimmy Keene (Taron Egerton) is sentenced to 10 years in a minimum security prison, he is given the choice of a lifetime — enter a maximum-security prison for the criminally insane and befriend suspected serial killer Larry Hall (Paul Walter Hauser), or stay where he is and serve his full sentence with no possibility of parole. Keene quickly realizes his only way out is to elicit a confession and find out where the bodies of several young girls are buried before Hall’s appeal goes through. But is this suspected killer telling the truth? Or is it just another tale from a serial liar? This dramatic and captivating story subverts the crime genre by enlisting the help of the very people put behind bars to solve its mysteries.