There’s nothing spookier than a young child with an ominous message. The Sixth Sense had “I see dead people,” The Shining had “redrum,” and The Exorcist had quotes too explicit to share here. But none are as iconic and bone-chilling as the scene in Poltergeist where young Carol Anne stares into the static on her family television and eerily declares, “They’re heeeere...”
Now, one of cinematic history’s most fascinating horror stories will continue in a new television series. According to Variety, the Poltergeist series in development at Amazon MGM Studios has hired Kalinda Vasquez and Robbie Thompson as writers and showrunners. Both showrunners have experience in both television and comic book writing, with Vasquez penning America Chavez: Made in the USA and Thompson having a long list of Marvel credits.
There’s still no word as to what the series will be about, only that it will be “inspired by the 1982 film,” which could mean a prequel, sequel, remake, or original story only tentatively connected to the movie.
There’s actually already been a TV series that took the latter approach, as Poltergeist: The Legacy ran on Showtime for three seasons before it was moved to the Sci-Fi Channel for a fourth and final season. But while the late ‘90s series used the Poltergeist name, it wasn’t really connected to the original film. Instead, it focused on a secret society known as The Legacy that protects the world from the occult, and retroactively worked the group into the events of Poltergeist.
Poltergeist and Spielberg
Poltergeist has another big claim to fame: the story was conceived by none other than Steven Spielberg, who co-wrote the script with Michael Grais and Mike Victor. Because his contract for E.T. prevented Spielberg from directing another movie before the extraterrestrial’s adventures were complete, Tobe Hooper was hired to direct instead.
There’s long been a dispute over how much influence Spielberg had on film. It’s been argued that Spielberg should be credited as co-director, but Hooper denied that Spielberg was more involved than he was. There was even an investigation from the Director’s Guild of America, but that only resulted in Hooper being paid damages for being credited less prominently in the movie’s trailers.
The entire ordeal led to an open letter from Spielberg to Hooper being published in a 1982 edition of The Hollywood Reporter. “Through the screenplay you accepted a vision of this very intense movie from the start, and as the director, you delivered the goods,” the letter read. “You performed professionally and responsibly throughout, and I want to wish you great success on your next project.”
This upcoming series has a lot to live up to. While Poltergeist’s TV history is questionable, the original movie is highly acclaimed and has connections to one of the most iconic filmmakers ever. Let’s just hope the series is truly inspired by the film, instead of being just another Legacy.
