Graphic novels have always been ripe for adaptation. From the more dramatic, nonfiction takes like Persepolis to the multiple adaptations of iconic superhero story Watchmen, graphic novels can provide a quasi-storyboard that movies and TV can easily pull from. But not every source material can easily make the jump from page to screen.
For 20 years, Hollywood has been attempting to bring on acclaimed horror graphic novel to life, to no avail. But Netflix may have just figured out the key to adapting it to the screen, with help from the acclaimed director behind the best horror movie of 2024.
According to Deadline, I Saw the TV Glow director Jane Schoenbrun is making the jump to television with an original Netflix series adaptation of Charles Burns’ graphic novel Black Hole. The graphic novel, originally published as a comic book series from 1995 to 2005, follows a town haunted by a sexually transmitted disease that causes horrific mutations. Chris finds herself infected by the “Bug,” so she retreats to the woods to live with other infected, only to realize someone is murdering them one by one.
Adaptations of Black Hole have been in the works since 2006, when a movie adaptation was announced with Alexandre Aja directing and Neil Gaiman co-writing. In 2008, Aja was replaced by Fight Club director David Fincher, and the original script was scrapped. Fincher left the project for a few years to focus on his Girl With the Dragon Tattoo trilogy, but was attached again in 2013. Unfortunately, nothing happened with this film for five years. In 2018, a brand-new film adaptation was announced from six-time The Mandalorian director Rick Famuyiwa, but that too petered out.
Schoenbrun’s version of the project marks the first time it’s been adapted for television, but it’s made for the streaming TV era: with 12 issues of the original comic book series, it could be adapted incredibly faithfully in a miniseries or two six-episode seasons. Hopefully, this one won’t get stuck in development hell like the other ones: Netflix has granted this project a straight-to-series order, so we should see production start soon.
