AMC is developing a TV series adaptation of the upcoming Emily Carpenter horror novel Gothictown, about a strange place called Juliana
AMC has been in the Walking Dead business for years, building a long-running show and multiple spin-offs out of the source material provided in the pages of Robert Kirkman’s comic book series. They’re in the Anne Rice business, building a franchise out of the books, characters, and ideas in Rice’s Vampire Chronicles and Mayfair Witches trilogy. Now, Deadline reports that they’re getting into the Emily Carpenter business, as they’re developing a TV series based on Carpenter’s upcoming novel Gothictown, with Abby Ajayi on board serve as showrunner, writer, and executive producer.
The Gothictown adaptation ended up at AMC through their first-look deal with Stephen Love’s company Made With Love Media, as Made With Love acquired the rights to the book in a competitive situation and will be producing the show.
Carpenter’s book isn’t even expected to reach shelves until March 25, 2025. The story follows Billie Hope, a New York City restaurateur who relocates her family to the quaint town of Juliana, Georgia, drawn by an irresistible offer: a Victorian home for only $100 and a grant to open a new restaurant. The “Juliana Initiative,” designed to revitalize the town post-pandemic, seems like the perfect opportunity for a fresh start and a new business venture. However, once Billie and her family settle in, an unsettling undercurrent beneath Juliana’s Southern charm starts to creep into her life. While she tries to brush off her suspicions as mere misgivings, the town’s eerie atmosphere and hidden darkness grow impossible to ignore. Billie soon realizes that Juliana might be holding her family captive in more ways than one, and escaping might not be as simple as she thought.
Carpenter’s previous books include Reviving the Hawthorn Sisters, Until the Day I Die, Every Single Secret, The Weight of Lies, and Burying the Honeysuckle Girls. Made With Love Media was behind the Netflix sci-fi comedy They Cloned Tyrone. Ajayi’s credits include Inventing Anna, The Riches, The Plot, Bobby Meritorious, How to Get Away with Murder, The First Lady, and the Hulu version of Four Weddings and a Funeral. She also wrote the screenplay for a remake of Curtis Hanson’s The Bedroom Window, but that hasn’t gone into production yet.
Have you read any Emily Carpenter books, and does Gothictown sound interesting to you? Let us know by leaving a comment below.