Sylvester Stallone’s Balboa Productions backs dark thriller adaptation
Summary
– Walking Dead veteran Channing Powell will write, showrun, and executive produce the 4MK series adaptation
– Sylvester Stallone’s Balboa Productions is developing the project based on J.D. Barker’s thriller novels
– Powell previously worked on The Walking Dead, Fear the Walking Dead, and Tales of the Walking Dead
Walking Dead veteran Channing Powell is moving into another dark television world with 4MK.
Powell is set to write, showrun, and executive produce a series adaptation of J.D. Barker’s serial killer thriller novels. Sylvester Stallone’s Balboa Productions is developing the project.
Powell has a strong history with The Walking Dead universe. She worked as a writer and consulting producer on The Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead before co-creating and showrunning Tales of the Walking Dead.
The 4MK series will pull from Barker’s original trilogy, The Fourth Monkey, The Fifth to Die, and The Sixth Wicked Child. It is also expected to include material from the upcoming prequel trilogy, which begins with The First Scarlet Door.
The story is set in Chicago and follows Detective Sam Porter as he hunts the Four Monkey Killer. The killer uses a twisted code based on hearing no evil, seeing no evil, speaking no evil, and doing no evil.
Stallone praised Powell as the right creative force to bring the story to television. He said the world of 4MK has the scale, danger, and mythology needed for a premium thriller series.
Powell said she was drawn to the story’s intensity and its focus on guilt, justice, corruption, and emotional damage. Barker also praised the team and said the adaptation has the potential to become the kind of series that stays with viewers.
The project is still in development. No network, streamer, cast, or release date has been announced yet.
