With his award-winning success directing all of True Detective's first season on the books, it’s perhaps not surprising that other TV series have been scrambling to secure Cary Fukunaga’s services. Though films have lured him back away for a while, he’s now attached to call the shots on Paramount Television’s The Alienist.
Drive writer Hossein Amini has penned the pilot and intends to write more scripts for the series adapted from Caleb Carr’s novel. Set in late 19th century Gilded Age New York, the story deals with Dr. Laszlo Kreizler, who uses the embryonic science of psychology to help the police and a newspaper reporter track down a serial killer. Familiar territory for Fukunaga, then, albeit melded with the period drama sensibility he’s brought to the likes of Jane Eyre.
“The Alienist is a fascinating and distinctive, fast-paced psychological thriller that is wonderfully evocative of the unrivalled Gilded Age of New York City,” says Paramount Television president Amy Powell in a statement to Variety. “Cary Fukunaga’s unique vision and ability to render compelling, distinctive and superbly atmospheric direction is the perfect voice for this television series. We are thrilled to have not only Cary’s expert direction, but also the creativity, imagination and storytelling abilities of the supremely talented Eric Roth and Hossein Amini.”
Fukunaga has most recently directed Beasts Of No Nation, which stars Idris Elba and has been snapped up for release by Netflix.