Sarah Snook to Star in ‘The Birds’ Limited Series

(Left) Sarah Snook in HBO's Succession' season 4. Photograph by David Russell/HBO. ©2022 HBO. All Rights Reserved. (Right) Tippi Hedren in 'The Birds'. Photo: Universal Pictures.

Preview:

Sarah Snook is attached to a limited series adaptation of ‘The Birds.’
‘The Leftovers’ Tom Spezialy is involved in writing it.
David Heyman is producing.

Look to the skies! Someone wants to replicate Alfred Hitchcock’s old trick and make us think that our feathered friends might actually be feathered fiends.

Yes, despite attempts to remake Hitchcock’s work rarely measuring up to the originals, ‘Succession’ star Sarah Snook and ‘The Leftovers’ scripting veteran Tom Spezialy are looking to give 1963’s ‘The Birds’ a new lease on life as a limited series.

The Birds

"...and remember, the next scream you hear may be your own!"

NRHorror Thriller

Audience

Release Mar 29, 1963Runtime 1h 59mBudget $2.5M

WHERE TO WATCH

Deadline reports that with ‘Harry Potter’ producer David Heyman also involved, Universal International Studios is putting this one out to potential buyers.

What’s the story of ‘The Birds’ miniseries?

Tippi Hedren in 'The Birds'. Photo: Universal Pictures.

Inspired by the film and Daphne du Maurier’s short story it was loosely based on, ‘The Birds’ in its new TV form introduces traveling magistrate Myra Massey (Snook) as she returns to her isolated Alaskan hometown for a routine presumptive death hearing, expecting a simple cold case. Instead, she finds her childhood friend’s bullet-ridden body.

When Myra is forced to step outside her role as judge to untangle the mystery, nature itself turns hostile with a wave of bird attacks. Now, Myra isn’t just trying to close a case, she’s fighting to survive in a place where death lurks in both the shadows and the skies.

‘The Birds’ limited series: a producer squawks... er... talks

At a discussion event last June, Head of Development at Heyday Television Sue Gibbs made it clear that all involved were not looking to simply remake the movie:

“We’re going back to the source material, the Daphne du Maurier novella and using that as inspiration. And at its heart, it’s looking at when nature turns on you. Obviously, with climate change that is very timely.”