It was revealed not so long ago that Chronicle writer and professional wrestling aficionado Max Landis would be delivering Dirk Gently to the small screen for BBC America. Fans know that bringing Douglas Adams’ work to life is never a small or easy endeavor. (Just look at the underwhelming box-office performance of the years-in-the-works 2005 big screen adaptation of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, which was a fun and truly underappreciated movie, and should have earned $1 billion, at the risk of editorializing.) Fortunately, it seems like fans should have something great to look forward to based on the trailer the network unveiled for Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency at San Diego Comic-Con 2016 over the weekend.
Samuel Barnett (Penny Dreadful) stars as the titular detective and Elijah Wood adds a little name recognition as his sidekick Todd, while Hannah Marks (The Real O’Neals, The Amazing Spider-Man) and Jade Eshete (Shades of Blue) round out the cast. Adams fans probably recall the BBC series Dirk Gently, which starred Stephen Mangan as the holistic detective and ran for four episodes between 2010 and 2012. Fans were pretty bummed when BBC didn’t renew that series, so maybe they’ll take comfort in Landis’ new eight-episode series when it debuts on Oct. 22.
