Nearly 13 years after his death, Hunter S. Thompson’s legend continues to grow through books and documentaries on his life, now an authorized biography will be making its way to peak TV. The project is being helmed by Davey Homes, the showrunner of the Get Shorty TV series and Oscar nominee Bob Nelson, screenwriter of The Confirmation and Nebraska for MGM Television.
So far there are no details around what the biographical show will be about, or when it will pick up during Thompson’s historically insane life, but it has a lot of material to play with. If the show starts out in Thompson’s days in the Air Force, or as he starts writing his book inside the Hell’s Angels, the story could be told for years.
Even if the show skipped Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, there’s a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers to sift through. From the his run for sheriff of Aspen, to the Kentucky Derby, and onto the presidential campaign trail in ’72, there are plenty of digestible chunks of HST’s life that would make for fine episodic television. Including some weird bottle episodes that take place in his Woody Creek cabin as he furiously types away.
Or when he terrorized poor Jack Nicholson.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gw6ErvziPdMThompson’s work was best described as the most accurate and least factual reporting out there, so there’s room for this show to go off on unexpected tangents, but there will be challenges too. Bill Murray famously told Johnny Depp: “Make your next role drastically different from Hunter otherwise you’ll find yourself 10 years from now still doing him.” Whoever plays the Good Doctor will have big shoes to fill.
