If you’re like FX CEO John Landgraf (or actually are Landgraf), then you fear a future in which “peak TV” means “everything is Netflix.” So far this dystopian projection hasn’t come true, but if Amazon’s latest round of pilots and new projects in development is any indication, it’s a good bet Netflix won’t be the only streaming television service broadcast and cable outlets should fear. Especially since the Jeff Bezos entertainment industrial complex just announced it’s developing an adaptation of the 2006 Martin Scorsese film, The Departed, which was an adaptation of the 2002 Hong Kong movie, Infernal Affairs.
Oh yeah, and the guy who wrote it — Jason Richman of Detroit 1-8-7 fame? He’s also responsible for the Nicolas Cage classic, Bangkok Dangerous.
Inspired by the films, The Departed TV series is set at present-day Chicago, amidst the shifting tides of warring ethnic drug gangs. In it, a young cop goes undercover to infiltrate a ruthless Latino gang, which simultaneously plants its own man in the police department. The show follows these two embattled moles as they attempt to fulfill their mission and stay alive.
Along with Richman, The Departed producer Graham King and many others who worked behind the scenes on Scorsese’s film will be involved.
Sadly, audiences this time around won’t be treated to a new batch of actors doing their best impressions of Leonardo DiCaprio, Jack Nicholson, Matt Damon and Mark Wahlberg doing their best impressions of Boston townies. Instead, they’ll be treated to (hopefully diverse) performers doing impressions of native Chicagoans, which is fine. Especially if at least one of them can do this:
(Via Deadline)
