(L-R) Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio
Noam Galai/FilmMagic
The Devil in the White City is officially dead on Hulu.
Sources say the Disney-backed streamer is no longer moving forward with the limited series, which had been in various stages of development for more than a decade. However, sources say producers ABC Signature remain committed to the drama and will shop the show for new business.
The news comes months after leading man Keanu Reeves and director Todd Field (Tar) dropped out of the drama from Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio.
Sources say Hulu and Paramount Television Studios and Disney’s ABC Signature, which were on board together to produce the series, had been in talks with The bear star Jeremy Allen White and Jude Law and director Matt Ross for the project. Sources say ABC Signature is still in talks with White, Law and director Ross for the series, though it’s unclear if they will close given that Devil do not currently have a home
Devil has been in the works for more than a decade, including a stint when it was envisioned as a feature film, with Sam Shaw (Hulu’s Castle Rock) on board as writer, showrunner and exec producer. DiCaprio and his Appian Way partner, Jennifer Davisson, are producing alongside Scorsese. The latter was previously set to direct the feature film, which had been set up at Paramount Pictures with DiCaprio previously set to star.
Reeves — after months of deal-making — was attached to star and executive produce the series, which landed at Hulu for development in 2019 and was formally picked up to series last year. Field came on board to direct the crime drama, which ultimately became a co-production between Paramount Television Studios and Disney’s ABC Signature. Paramount Pictures won the rights to the novel after a massive bidding war in 2015, with Billy Ray on board to write the scripts. Field left three days after Reeves dropped out of the show.
Based on Erik Larson’s novel, Devil revolved around Daniel H. Burnham (the role previously played by Reeves), a demanding but visionary architect racing to make his mark on history with the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, and Dr. HH Holmes, America’s first modern serial killer and the man behind the infamous “Murder Castle” built in the shadow of the fair.
Rick Yorn, Stacey Sher and Mark Lafferty also executive produce the series. A formal number of episodes has not yet been determined. Scorsese and DiCaprio previously collaborated on features Bands of New York, The Aviator, The Departed, Shutter Island and The Wolf of Wall Street. The frequent collaborators had previously developed television recordings Gangs in New York and Shutter Island, although neither moved beyond the script stage. DiCaprio currently has a film and television deal with Apple, where he has produced the Apple series Shining girls.
Updated 17:14: This story has been updated to reflect that Jeremy Allen White, Jude Law and director Matt Ross are still in talks with the board Devil.