M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘Tales From The Crypt’ Reboot Gets Official TV Series Greenlight

On the same day that Stephen King’s The Mist gets the greenlight to become a TV series, another iconic horror series gets a 10-episode order. TNT has given the go-ahead for M. Night Shyamalan’s reboot of the classic HBO series Tales From The Crypt. Fans of the show may be thrilled, but they have to realize that this is going to be a slightly different version than the weekly stories of horror that used to grace their small screens.

TV Line has confirmed the 10-episode order of the new Tales From The Crypt reboot, and TNT is going to base the series on the original EC Comics. It was originally reported that this reboot would be different than the original show on HBO, and this series would be more like American Horror Story, but the plans for the reboot appear to have changed.

The reboot by M. Night Shyamalan is going to be more like the series that ran on HBO from 1989 to 1996. This new version will tell a different, twisted tale with each episode and it will be introduced by the Crypt Keeper.

There’s still no official word on if John Kassir is going to return to voice the Crypt Keeper, but it will disappoint long-time fans if he isn’t. That includes Kassir, himself.

I’ll go on record, “Crypt Keeper as we know him is more popular than ever & it’d be a sham/shame not to have him host the show!!!!!

— John Kassir (@JohnKassir) January 7, 2016

Making things a bit more interesting is that TNT is apparently launching a horror block with two other shows joining Tales From The Crypt. A pilot has been ordered for a show called Time of Death, which will be another twisted anthology as the official synopsis points out.

“Time of Death is planned as an anthology of season-long horror tales that unfold in real time – each one taking viewers hour-by-hour through a single ‘long night of hell.’ The first season will follow a murderous psychopath who returns to his Midwestern hometown during the annual county fair to exact revenge on a community he believes destroyed his life.”

A second project called Creatures is in development and it has a familiar, yet horrifying, storyline. The synopsis for this series appears to come from the “Slender Man” stabbings that took place in May of 2014.

Tom Shankland of House of Cards will be directing and executive producing the series written by Dominic Mitchell from In the Flesh. The similarities to the case are incredibly close, and it brings about a more realistic horror aspect.

“Creatures [is] a sophisticated psychological thriller that tells the disturbing tale of two former best friends who, at 12 years old, tried to cut out their classmate’s heart as a sacrifice to an internet bogeyman they invented called Mr. Gorgi. Fifteen years later, the two young women have been released from a psychiatric institute into their small town in Alaska, but it’s not long before they start to feel the alluring and terrifying presence of Mr. Gorgi once again.”

M. Night Shyamalan has said he is “trilled” about how TNT’s new horror block is coming together, and he likes the two new additions joining Tales From The Crypt. It’s known that Tales will start off the night, followed by the two newly announced shows. The new horror block will begin airing sometime in 2017.

Tales From The Crypt does sound interesting, and being on TNT, there could be a little extra freedom granted to M. Night Shyamalan regarding its content. With two other shows making up that horror block, it really seems like TNT could be on to something here. Only time will tell if it’s going to be successful, but the concept and descriptions of all three shows is incredibly promising.

[Image via HBO]