We’ve got more Poltergeist, Amityville Horror and Texas Chainsaw Massacre making their way to theaters, just to name a few, but the horror reboot/remake/sequel craze isn’t just relegated to the big screen anymore. Rosemary’s Baby had its run on NBC back in May, MTV is working on a Scream TV show, Bates Motel recently wrapped its second season and now Lifetime just snagged one of their own. The network just put in a straight-to-series order for Damien, a show based on Richard Donner’s The Omen.
Lifetime gave the go-ahead for Fox Television Studios to churn out six episodes, which will likely air in early 2015. The concept comes from former Walking Dead showrunner, Glen Mazzara, and will focus on an adult Damien Thorn. Hit the jump for more on the show.
According to Variety, Damien will pick up after the events of the 1976 original film and feature an older Damien as he discovers that he’s the Antichrist. Lifetime Executive Vice President and General Manager Rob Sharenow stated:
“Glen Mazzara has re-imagined him as a dark, romantic, anti-hero and this fresh take blends complex characters with premium storytelling to make something truly original.”
A fresh take? That would be nice, but how many times have we heard that and wound up with either more of the same or something that’s so far removed from the iconic source material that it bears little to no resemblance at all. Plus, we’ve seen an adult Damien before and it didn’t really work out well. Omen III: The Final Conflict does have its moments, but it’s certainly not something that would make you think the concept could be a big winner. The whole “dark, romantic, anti-hero” thing seems like a red flag, too. At this point, how many times have we seen supernatural creatures or bad boys with evil urges who, deep down, are just super sensitive heartthrobs?
This is only the first we’re hearing of Damien so it isn’t really fair to jump to conclusions just yet, but if the show really is heading towards an early 2015 start date, we could get more details soon and hopefully there will be something to suggest that Mazzara really has a standout idea here.