A&E is ready to Let the Right One In.
The network is teaming with Teen Wolf showrunner Jeff Davis and actor-screenwriter Brandon Boyce to adapt the Swedish vampire story, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
A&E landed the story, about a bullied teen boy who befriends a young female vampire — based on the best-selling Swedish book by John Ajvide Lindqvist that was subsequently adapted into the critically acclaimed 2008 movie directed by Tomas Alfredson — following a bidding war with Showtime.
Read more TV's Remake Craze: Who Gets the Money and Owns Rights?
The drama follows the boy and female vampire, who lives in secrecy with her mysterious guardian. When a series of strange murders pops up in their small Vermont town, it attracts the attention of a federal marshal with a mysterious past of his own. (Watch the trailer, below.)
The drama, which is in the development stage, is being produced in- house via A+E Studios and Marty Adelstein's and Becky Clements' (Teen Wolf, Aquarius) Tomorrow Studios. Davis, Boyce, Adelstein, Clements and Simon Oakes will executive produce. The property was optioned from Hammer Films Productions, which produced the 2010 English-language film adaptation Let Me In.
For Boyce, Let the Right One In comes after a recurring role on MTV's werewolf remake Teen Wolf, in which he played Dr. Vandenburg for showrunner Davis. His credits include the screenplays for Apt Pupil and Wicker Park. He recently also broke through as a novelist with his debut title, period Western Here By the Bloods, bowing as the first of a three-book deal with Kensington Publishing. Boyce is repped by ICM Partners, Kaplan/Perrone Entertainment and Bloom Hergott.
Davis, meanwhile, has steered MTV's Teen Wolf remake for four seasons. Let the Right One In marks his latest genre remake after starting his career with a script that ultimately became CBS' Criminal Minds. He's repped by WME, Magnet Management and Jackoway Tyerman.
See more Movies That Became TV Shows
For A&E, Let the Right One In — a foreign hit that grossed $9.1 million internationally on its way to a worldwide gross of $11.2 million — comes as the network's original scripted roster consists of two remakes: long-running Bates Motel (based on Psycho) and a reboot of French zombie drama The Returned, both from Carlton Cuse, and the upcoming fourth season of CBS import Unforgettable.
Remakes have been all the rage this development season, with film-to-TV adaptations earning pilot orders at the broadcast networks this season, including Rush Hour (CBS), Problem Child (NBC), Uncle Buck (ABC) and more.
A&E's Let the Right One In marks the second time the book has been translated for U.S. audiences. Matt Reeves rebooted the film with Chloe Grace Moretz and Kodi Smit-McPhee in 2010 as Let Me In, which earned $24.1 million worldwide (evenly split between domestic and foreign audiences). The 2008 film was wildly praised, earning a BAFTA nomination as best film not in English, in addition to wins from critics groups in Boston, Chicago, Florida, Toronto and several others. The property was also adapted for the stage, with the National Theatre of Scotland earning a sold-out run at London's Royal Court Theatre and a West End run after stellar reviews.
Email: Lesley.Goldberg@THR.com
Twitter: @Snoodit
