Although no new information has been released regarding the television adaptation of The Alienist that was first announced in April and May of this year, I have decided to add a new page to The Alienist Books section of 17th Street containing the information that has been released thus far about the adaptation. In addition, The Alienist movie page has been updated to reflect the news about the new television drama series, and The Alienist TV Series blog tag has been added to the side menu. When any new information about the series does come to light, it will be reported here on the main blog as well as on The Alienist TV Series page.
Thank you, Kim. The Kreizler books are amongst my favorites, and I am constantly in search of articles relating to references in the books. If only Carr should write a 3rd installment concerning Sara Howard!
The lack of information on when and where the Alienist TV series will air is frustrating. It would have been easier if nothing had been announced until all of the details were known. I do hope that a fair and accurate representation of the book is accomplished. I think a television program will bring about a new interest in history among young people. So many people in their teens and twenty’s have few interests beyond video games and tweeter (sp?)
It feels like a long wait to me as well. However, given that this is going to be one of Paramount TV’s first productions since the division’s relaunch, perhaps there’s been a lot of ground work to do? Mr. Carr didn’t sound terribly hopeful that the books would make it to the screen at all back in his 2013 NYT web chat, so I would hazard a guess that the 2014 announcement was a relatively unexpected development. Of course, never having had anything to do with the world of tv production, I have no idea what sort of ground work might be involved at this stage (storyboarding? scripts?) or what the time frames for such work might be, so I could be on the wrong track entirely; nonetheless, I remain hopeful! In any case, I’m keeping an eye on sources like Variety and IMDb, and will be updating 17th Street as soon as any new information comes to light.
Regarding your point about a tv series like this possibly renewing an interest in history with a younger audience, I certainly hope it will increase people’s curiosity about the various historical figures who feature in the novel as well as sparking a renewed interest in the books. After all, the books are educational in a way that a tv series just can’t replace.
I’ve actually been feeling a renewed hope for the potential of the tv series after finally getting around to watching The Knick recently. While I’m not a huge fan of some of the elements in that production (e.g., the music, moving around some of the historical events), it’s gritty and—importantly—hasn’t romanticised the period. (I love the attention to detail in terms of costume, too.) It’s given me hope that perhaps the Alienist series might go down a similar path. My biggest concern has always been that any Alienist adaptation would ultimately get turned into a love story (e.g., with too much emphasis on the Kreizler/Mary/Sara element to the plot) or a one-dimensional thriller (e.g., with too much emphasis on action rather than dialogue), but hopefully they will find a way to capture the complexity of the themes and characters—as well as, of course, getting the all-important historical details correct… all the way down to Sara’s derringer!