Damon Lindelof is getting back into showrunning with a new kidnap thriller at HBO. The Warner Bros Discovery-owned cable network has handed The Chain a straight-to-series order.
Based on Adrian McKinty’s 2019 novel, the project marks the first time that Lost co-creator Lindelof is getting back into the showrunner chair since HBO’s Watchmen, which aired in 2019.
Lindelof, who signed a two-year overall deal with HBO last year, has served as an exec producer on more recent projects including Peacock’s Mrs. Davis and HBO’s superhero series Lanterns, which is set to come premiere this year.
The Chain is an eight-part limited series with Media Res, the company behind The Morning Show, serving as co-studio.
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HBO said Lindelof is “expanding the mythology of McKinty’s thriller”.
The book follows a mother, who is targeted by a dangerous group of masterminds, she must commit a crime to save her kidnapped daughter—or risk losing her forever.
It follows Rachel Klein, who drops her daughter at the bus stop and heads into her day. But a cell phone call from an unknown number changes everything: it’s a woman on the line, informing her that she has Kylie bound and gagged in her back seat, and the only way Rachel will see her again is to follow her instructions exactly: pay a ransom, and find another child to abduct. This is no ordinary kidnapping: the caller is a mother herself, whose son has been taken, and if Rachel doesn’t do as she’s told, the boy will die. Rachel is now part of The Chain.
The Chain has an interesting backstory.
McKinty had written some books but quit writing in 2017 and became a bartender and Uber driver to support his family. Author Don Winslow found out and passed some of his books to agent Shane Salerno, who encouraged McKinty to write The Chain.
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In 2020, Universal Pictures optioned the book for Edgar Wright to direct it as a movie with Jane Goldman as screenwriter. That never happened, but Media Res subsequently optioned it in 2024 to turn it into a television series.
The pilot story is by Lindelof, Carly Wray and Breannah Gibson, with Lindelof and Wray writing the pilot script. Lindelof exec produces alongside Michael Ellenberg and Lindsey Springer for Media Res and Shane Salerno with McKinty as co-exec producer.
“From the moment I heard the wild and original premise of Adrian’s book, I was shocked, surprised and angry I hadn’t thought of it myself,” Lindelof said. “I’ve always wanted to try to adapt a great thriller, and this one has all the dark, weird, exhilarating touches that fire up my imagination. I feel so fortunate to reteam with Francesca, Casey and Michael, who first brought me to HBO 15 years ago, and I can’t wait to make The Chain a memorable link in their outstanding legacy.”
Francesca Orsi, EVP, HBO Programming, Head of HBO Drama Series and Films, added: “We are honored by our continued partnership with Damon Lindelof, one of the most singular and distinctive creators of our time. The Chain promises to continue his legacy of dropping us into the pit of the human brain and delivering in ways not only emotionally daring but, ultimately, transformative.”
