“I wish someone with less scruples than talent would make The Birds again, Alfred Hitchcock’s iconic 1963 film, but make it 8 hours long and as a series” is something that, apparently, people in Hollywood believe people are actually saying. So much so that at HBO, following in the footsteps of Carrie and Crystal Lake, they’ve resurrected this franchise (if you can call it that, given that it only had one horrendous made-for-TV sequel) hoping the audience will go along with it.
Birds gone wild
What’s more: the series already has a star. Sarah Snook, who you’ll know from Succession, will take over from Tippi Hedren in a bizarre project created by Tom Spezialy. Spezialy was already involved in Watchmen and The Leftovers, and will probably draw on the original 1952 novel rather than Hitchcock’s film (while still paying homage, of course, because that’s what people want).
It’s true that there were already rumors about it, but now it’s become reality. So much so that we even have a plot summary, which says that Myra Massey, escaping a custody battle, returns home with her daughter, secretly looking into the disappearance of a childhood friend. But there’s more! A killer on the loose and threats against her, all amid bird attacks inexplicably linked to the crime. Everything happens to this woman.
We still don’t know the release date for this limited series, but it’ll probably be ready for 2028. We live in a world where everything is liable to become a franchise, so it shouldn’t surprise us too much either. What’ll be next? The Rear Window video game? The sequel to The Man Who Knew Too Much? Hitchcock-mania has only just begun.
