Netflix Is Turning Cult Classic Graphic Novel Black Hole Into a Series From Jane Schoenbrun
Netflix plunges into Black Hole, tapping I Saw the TV Glow filmmaker Jane Schoenbrun to adapt the cult graphic novel into a new series.
After two decades of false starts, Charles Burns' cult horror comic Black Hole has finally found a home. Netflix is turning it into a series with filmmaker Jane Schoenbrun (We’re All Going to the World’s Fair, I Saw the TV Glow) writing and directing. Honestly, this material always felt more like a series than a two-hour sprint, so... good call.
How we got here
- Burns spent about ten years creating the 12-issue Black Hole, which was collected as a graphic novel in 2005.
- 2006: Alexandre Aja was announced to direct a film version from a script by Roger Avary and Neil Gaiman.
- Aja exited; in 2008 David Fincher stepped in to direct. Avary and Gaiman left rather than restart the process under a new filmmaker.
- Fincher stayed attached for years, then moved on.
- Roughly eight years ago, Rick Famuyiwa was hired to write and direct, but that iteration never made it to cameras either.
- Now: per Deadline, Netflix won a bidding war for the rights and ordered Schoenbrun's take straight to series.
What the show is
The story takes place in the picture-perfect town of Roosevelt, where a local myth says that if you have sex too young, you catch a thing called the bug. It is not a metaphor here. High schooler Chris assumes it is small-town scare talk until one reckless night leaves her infected. That gets her banished to the woods with other teens dealing with very real, very physical transformations. As if that body-horror exile camp isn't enough, a killer starts picking them off one by one.
"A virus that literally turns you into a monster from your worst nightmares."
Who is making it
Netflix gave the show a straight-to-series order after winning the rights. Schoenbrun will write and direct. The series is produced by New Regency and Plan B. Charles Burns is an executive producer, along with Plan B, Erin Levy, and for New Regency: Yariv Milchan, Arnon Milchan, Natalie Lehmann, and Laura Delahaye.
Why this version might actually happen
Black Hole is moody, gnarly, and character-driven — the kind of thing that breathes better over episodes than inside a single film. Schoenbrun's vibe lines up: intimate teen angst meets uncanny horror. The woods exile plus slasher angle is a curveball I did not expect, but it tracks with how the comic keeps pushing the dread forward.
After watching this project bounce from Aja to Fincher to Famuyiwa, seeing Netflix lock it down with a straight-to-series order is the first time it feels real. Curious how far they go with the makeup and the metaphor — and how weird they let it get. You in for this one?