Guillermo del Toro Developing “Monster” for HBO

Guillermo del Toro has multiple movie projects in development and is working on a TV version of The Strain for FX, but that hasn't slowed him down. It was recently revealed that he'll be helping adapt Monster, a Japanese manga and anime series, at HBO. 

According to Deadline, del Toro will co-write the story with Doctor Who and Sherlock's Steven Thompson. Monster is a 17 volume manga series written and illustrated by Naoki Urasawa. It was first published in 1994 and was later turned into a 74-episode anime series that first aired in 2004:

Via ANN: "Kenzou Tenma, a Japanese brain surgeon in Germany, had it all: incredible skill at his work, a rich and beautiful fiancee, and a promising career at his hospital. However, after becoming disenchanted by hospital politics, he chose to save the life of a young boy who got shot in the head over the life of the mayor. As a result he lost the support of the hospital director, as well as his position in the hospital and his fiance. A short time later, the hospital director and the doctors that replaced him were murdered, and once again he was catapulted back onto the top. But as the chief suspect of the murders, Tenma did not get a easy life. As a matter of fact, it seems that the boy he saved was much more than he had appeared to be... Now to clear his name and to correct his past mistake, Tenma must get to the bottom of these and other murders, and investigate the truth of the Monster who is behind all of this."

The expectation is that Guillermo del Toro will direct at least the pilot episode. This is an early announcement for the project, but we'll have plenty of details by the time the pilot episode is given the green light. As we always like to say, this is an early report and it's not necessarily a guarantee that this project will move forward quickly or make it on the air. Thanks to Daily Dead reader Jesse Rosenbaum for the heads up on this announcement!