‘Carnival Row’ Picked Up at Amazon Without Guillermo del Toro

We’ve waited since at least 2005 for some version of Travis Beacham’s Killing on Carnival Row to make it off the page, and Amazon is finally moving forward – at a price. The streaming service has issued an eight-episode order for the horror-fantasy procedural, but without the involvement of project champion Guillermo del Toro.

Per Deadline, Amazon has given an eight-episode series order to Carnival Row, with Victor Frankenstein director Paul McGuigan joining Beacham and writer-showrunner Rene Echevarria. The project was previously optioned in 2015 with Beacham and Guillermo del Toro, though the latter’s feature schedule now prevents him from participating.

Here’s how the series is described:

Carnival Row is a fantasy-noir set in a neo-Victorian city. Mythical creatures fleeing their war-torn homeland have gathered in the city, and tensions are simmering between citizens and the growing immigrant population. The series follows the investigation of a string of unsolved murders that are eating away at whatever uneasy peace still exists.

For its part, the original Killing on Carnival Row draft (written by Pacific Rim alum Travis Beacham) was picked up by New Line back in 2005, but went through multiple directors and developments in years past. Del Toro co-wrote a pilot version of the feature script with Beacham and Rene Echevarria, executive producing with The Strain partner Gary Ungar.

Says Amazon:

There has never been a series like Carnival Row before. The scope of the storytelling combined with the uniqueness of the world, themes and aesthetics haven’t been on TV before. A simple police investigation will lead us down a remarkable journey in a world where humans and creatures co-exist.

Carnival Row is likely to begin filming in fall 2018 for a 2019 premiere, so we’ve got time! Stay tuned for the latest in the meantime.