The Studio is one of the most critically acclaimed shows to be released onto the 2025 TV schedule so far, with co-creator Seth Rogen starring as Continental Studios head Matt Remick. The series’ first episode saw Matt being tasked with putting together a Kool-Aid movie, and he went so far as to court Martin Scorsese to direct it after learning the filmmaker was interested in making a Jonestown movie. Needless to say this didn’t go well, and you can break out your Apple TV+ subscription to learn what happened, but now we have life initiating art… almost. There’s a Jonestown TV series in the works, and Saturday Night Live vet Bill Hader is attached.
Hader is partnering up with Daniel Zelman to write an HBO series about cult leader Jim Jones and the horrific events that took place at the Peoples Temple Agricultural Project, a.k.a. Jonestown. Both men are also serving as co-showrunners and executive producers, and if the project moves forward, Hader would also direct the project if it gets greenlighted. Additionally, Variety reports that the man behind SNL characters like Stefon and Vinny Vedecci could end up starring in the series as well.
Jim Jones started the Peoples Temple in Guayana in the 1950s, and by the 1970s, it became known as Jonestown. The settlement gained global attention in 1978 when over 900 people, including Jones, died in a mass murder-suicide. This came just hours after US Congressman Leo Ryan was shot at an airstrip in Guyana as he and others were attempting to leave, having come to the country to investigate the claims that people at Jonestown were being held against their will.
The majority of the deaths came from ingesting a cocktail of drugs and poisons, including cyanide, mixed into Flavor Aid. However, this was misidentified as Kool-Aid, resulting in the phrase, “Drinking the Kool-Aid.” The Jonestown deaths were previously explored on TV in the 1980 miniseries Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones, which starred Powers Boothe as Jones. Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan was also working on his own Jonestown series for HBO in 2016, but it never moved forward.
Although Bill Hader is primarily known for his comedy work, he’s also delved in dramatic territory various times, most notably with his HBO series Barry. So he presumably knows that adapting what happened at Jonestown for television needs to be handle with care and not used for comedic fodder. It’s also probably a safe bet that if the acting side of Hader’s arrangement is worked out, he’d be playing Jim Jones, though we’ll obviously let you know if that’s not the case.
Assuming this Jonestown TV series gets off the ground, I can only hope that its creative process goes ok and doesn’t crash and burn like what Martin Scorsese wanted to craft as his final movie in The Studio. Meanwhile, feel free to revisit Bill Hader’s work on Barry with a Max subscription, and remember that he’ll be heard as The Cat in the Hat’s title character in the animated film adaptation hitting theaters next year.
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