‘Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters’ TV Show Moving Forward With New Cast

Norwegian filmmaker Tommy Wirkola scored himself a huge genre hit with the film Dead Snow, a blood-soaked adventure in which a group of coeds at a cabin come across a horde of reanimated Nazi zombies. American studios saw what he could accomplish with a small budget, resulting in opportunities to bring to life bigger adventures, such as Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters.

An interpretation of the original fairytale in which Hansel and Gretel are captured by a witch who intends to fatten them up and eat them, the film saw the characters as adults, played by Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton, using their witch-killing abilities in a blend of dark fantasy, comedy, and horror. The film was panned by American critics, scoring only 15% positive reviews on review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes.

Despite the critical reception, the film won the box office that weekend and went on to earn over $200 million worldwide on a budget of only $50 million.

While American audiences might not be clamoring to see another installment in the franchise, Wirkola revealed to Bloody Disgusting that he’s actively working on developing a TV series based on the franchise, which will bring a new cast and new creatures.

“It’s gonna be a little bit of a reset…”

Gemma Arterton might not have become a household name after the film, but with Jeremy Renner’s roles in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he’s become a bonafide star. As such, neither he, nor Arterton, are expected to return.

Wirkola pointed out, “It’s gonna be re-cast and it’s gonna be a little bit of a reset on that front, but both Paramount and MGM have been really supportive and really encouraging actually to push the tone as much as we want and keep it R-rated, and even doing the film, there was still some restraint on how far we could push it and how far we could go, but now, they’ve been saying to us, ‘Go out there with it and have fun,’ so we’ll see. But so far they’ve been really supportive of how far we wanna take it.”

In 2015, Starz premiered Ash vs. Evil Dead, a TV series continuation of the Evil Dead films. With that series now entering its third season, there’s concrete evidence that a film franchise can be adapted for TV and retain its R-rated sensibilities.

“I’m back on board…”

Having written the first film, the filmmaker knew the direction he wanted the franchise to go, and while it’s no longer a film, Wirkola has tapped other successful TV writers for the endeavor.

“I had an idea for the sequel story so I wrote the first draft of it, but that was it for me, but as far as I heard now, the film is pretty much dead,” Wirkola explained. “I’m back on board with the producers Kevin Messick and Adam McKay and those guys, and we’re developing it into a TV show with Paramount and MGM, who are the studios who financed it, so Mark Verheiden is writing the pilot as of now. Mark, of course, is a big writer. Lastly he did Daredevil and Evil Dead and as of now, he’s writing a pilot right now, and we’re hoping to take it out to networks in the near future.”

Even though Wirkola has brought in some TV heavyweights, the filmmaker himself will also get in on the action.

Wirkola explained, “I will be involved in that whole process, and I will direct the pilot, so I think it’s very exciting. It’s an idea that really suits television, just the nature of it, in that world you can really go to a lot of different places and have fun with it, so it’s exciting. We’re writing a pilot right now and we’re having fun with it.”

“All different kinds of supernatural beings and creatures…”

Considering “Witch Hunters” is right there in the name, the film focused on those sorceresses, but Wirkola hints that the world would be expanding for the TV series.

Wirkola explained, “I think it’s natural that in that world, there would be all different kinds of supernatural beings and creatures, it’s just in a way, it’s a fairytale world and we’re living in it, so there are no limits to where we can go.”

Given the successes of network shows like Grimm and Once Upon A Time, giving audiences an R-rated version of those worlds seems like it would be a surefire success.

For now, we’ll just have to stay tuned for further updates on the Hansel and Gretel TV series as it develops.