‘The Birds’ Series Starring Sarah Snook Lands at HBO
LOS ANGELES — Following her historic, critically lauded tenure as the razor-sharp corporate strategist Siobhan "Shiv" Roy in HBO’s modern titan Succession, Emmy Award-winning actress Sarah Snook is officially heading back to the premium cable network. However, this time, she will be trading the claustrophobic boardrooms of Manhattan for the unforgiving, freezing wilderness of Alaska, where a much deadlier and far more visceral predator awaits her.
HBO has officially placed a limited series adaptation of The Birds into development, with Snook firmly attached to headline as both the star and an executive producer. The ambitious project reimagines Alfred Hitchcock’s landmark 1963 cinematic masterpiece—which was itself loosely adapted from Daphne du Maurier’s 1952 gothic horror novella—as a high-stakes, present-day murder mystery deeply entwined with unexplained, apocalyptic swarms of aggressive avian wildlife.
News of the high-profile development broke via Deadline before being swiftly corroborated by Variety. While the project currently sits firmly in the development stage—meaning it has not yet received an official series order or premiere date from the network—the creative pedigree attached to the pitch has immediately made it one of the most anticipated and talked-about potential properties in modern television.
Main Facts: A Modern, Alaskan Take on a Horror Classic
The newly envisioned adaptation promises to take the core concept of unprovoked, coordinated bird attacks and supercharge it with modern serialized storytelling tropes, including a gritty murder mystery and a deeply personal character drama.
At the center of the narrative is Myra Massey, a brand-new protagonist specifically created for this television event who appears in neither Hitchcock’s film nor du Maurier’s original literary source material. According to early logline details released by the studios, Myra is desperately fleeing a bitterly contested, acrimonious custody battle. In an attempt to find safety and sanctuary, she returns alongside her young daughter to her isolated, close-knit Alaskan hometown.
However, peace is the last thing waiting for her. Beneath the surface of her quiet homecoming, Myra is secretly launching her own dangerous, unauthorized investigation into the suspicious disappearance of a childhood friend. To complicate matters further, a ruthless killer is operating locally, and personal threats are mounting from every direction. As Myra fights tooth and nail to protect her daughter from human malice, a terrifying new menace emerges from the skies: vicious, inexplicably deadly bird attacks that seem inextricably bound to the very local crime she is attempting to solve.
The choice of setting is a deeply personal and geographically strategic one. Tom Spezialy, the acclaimed writer who penned the pilot script, hails from Alaska himself. By relocating the action from Cornwall (du Maurier’s setting) and Bodega Bay, California (Hitchcock’s legendary cinematic landscape), the production aims to leverage the vast, isolated, and hostile nature of the Alaskan wilderness to amplify the psychological dread and physical vulnerability of the characters.
Chronology: The Long and Tortured Path to Remaking The Birds
Bringing The Birds back to the screen has been a cinematic white whale for Hollywood producers for nearly two decades. The history of attempts to modernize or readapt the property is fraught with false starts, abandoned scripts, and unrealized visions.
- 1952: Daphne du Maurier publishes her iconic psychological horror novella The Birds in the collection The Apple Tree, setting the story against the backdrop of the rugged Cornish coast where avian life inexplicably turns on humanity.
- 1963: Director Alfred Hitchcock releases his legendary cinematic adaptation through Universal Pictures. Starring Tippi Hedren and Rod Taylor, the film relocates the terror to the foggy coastal community of Bodega Bay, California, cementing itself as a foundational text in horror history and pop culture lore.
- 1994: Universal releases The Birds II: Land’s End, a poorly received, straight-to-television sequel that ignores the events of the original film and is universally panned by critics and audiences alike.
- 2007: Universal Pictures announces its first major attempt at a high-profile theatrical remake, attaching actress Naomi Watts to star. Despite early excitement, the project languishes in development hell and is eventually quietly shelved.
- 2017: The BBC attempts a fresh angle, developing a television series version of the property with acclaimed British playwright Conor McPherson attached to write. Like the 2007 feature attempt, this iteration fails to transition from the writers’ room to active production.
- Present Day: HBO, alongside Heyday Television and Universal Global Television, takes up the mantle. By enlisting heavy-hitters like Sarah Snook and Tom Spezialy, the team crafts a fresh serialized angle that sidesteps a direct shot-for-shot remake in favor of a contemporary murder mystery set in Alaska.
Supporting Data: Behind the Creative Force and Rights Structure
The artistic engine driving this new iteration of The Birds is comprised of some of the most respected names in contemporary prestige television.
Tom Spezialy, who authored the pilot script, brings a wealth of high-end genre experience to the table. His impressive resume includes critical darlings such as HBO’s existential drama The Leftovers and Damon Lindelof’s critically acclaimed, Emmy-sweeping reimagining of Watchmen for HBO. Spezialy’s work on Watchmen earned him an Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited Series in 2020, establishing his capability to handle complex source material, dense mythologies, and dark genre themes.
Joining Spezialy as executive producers are David Heyman and Danny Samit of Heyday Television. Heyman is one of the most prolific and commercially successful producers in the entertainment industry, with a sprawling resume that includes the Harry Potter film franchise, Gravity, Paddington, Barbie, and crucially, he is also currently producing HBO’s highly anticipated upcoming television series adaptation of Harry Potter. Universal Global Television is attached to co-produce the series, navigating the complex web of rights that are jointly controlled by Universal Pictures and the Daphne du Maurier literary estate.
Official Responses and Industry Context
While HBO has not yet issued a formal press release or comment regarding a potential series greenlight—largely due to the project’s early status in development—the industry trades have highlighted the massive strategic value of locking down Sarah Snook for another tentpole project.
For HBO, securing Snook is a major victory. Her portrayal of Shiv Roy across four critically acclaimed seasons of Succession made her an icon of modern prestige television, culminating in her winning the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series in 2024. Snook’s ability to project icy composure, deep vulnerability, and ruthless pragmatism makes her uniquely suited to anchor a dark, character-driven mystery thriller.
Furthermore, Snook is no stranger to the horror and thriller genres. Beyond her corporate drama credentials, she delivered a chilling, acclaimed performance in the 2023 Netflix psychological horror film Run Rabbit Run, where she played a fertility doctor coping with a daughter exhibiting bizarre, inexplicable behaviors. Her genre roots also extend back to the cerebral 2014 time-travel thriller Predestination alongside Ethan Hawke, and most recently, she headlined the Peacock thriller series All Her Fault.
Implications: Where The Birds Fits in HBO’s Horizon
If HBO ultimately decides to grant The Birds a full series order, the project will instantly occupy a prestigious and lucrative space within the network’s evolving programming slate.
In recent years, HBO and its streaming sibling Max have leaned heavily into high-end, cinematic genre television. The Birds would join a formidable roster of tentpole horror and speculative fiction properties currently housed at the network, including the post-apocalyptic juggernaut The Last of Us and It: Welcome to Derry, the sprawling prequel series expanding Stephen King’s universe.
For Snook, the project represents a homecoming of sorts, reuniting her with the network that defined the most visible chapter of her career thus far, while simultaneously allowing her to stretch her acting muscles in a brand-new narrative landscape. Should the Alaskan-set mystery take flight past the development stage, viewers can expect a harrowing, psychologically layered exploration of guilt, isolation, and nature fighting back against the sins of humanity. Until then, the project remains a tantalizing glimpse into how modern prestige television can reinterpret a cinematic classic for a generation grappling with entirely new forms of environmental and personal dread.
