Last Updated on September 3, 2025 by Ryan Scott
Way back in 2021, it was revealed that the best-selling Boom! Studios Comic Something is Killing the Children was going to be turned into a TV series at Netflix. The book, which was created by writer James Tynion IV and artist Werther Dell’Edera, originally had The Haunting of Hill House duo of Mike Flanagan and Trevor Macy on board, but that version fell away. Later, Baran Bo Adar and Jante Friese of Dark fame began developing the project in 2023. So where do things stand now? We’re glad you asked!
See also: 13 Killer Slasher Comics And How To Get Started Reading Them
I recently had the good fortune of speaking with Tynion and artist Dani on behalf of their new Universal Monsters comic The Invisible Man. During the conversation, I was able to ask him about the status of the and whether he had any updates. “Nothing I am allowed to say,” Tynion teased. “There are many things I could say.” I pressed him just a bit to make sure the project was canceled or anything like that. Tynion then had this to say:
“There are lots of interesting conversions that are happening. Everything evolves. Everything takes a very long time in development. Things grow, and change, and shift in exciting directions but it’s been a five year development process so far and that five year development process is continuing.”
So, at the very least, the project isn’t dead. As Tynion points out, development can often be a very, very long process. Just look at how long it took for The Long Walk movie to get made. One can only hope this TV show doesn’t take literal decades to come to fruition, but a handful of years isn’t unusual for development these days. Netflix has deep pockets, but they also have a lot of irons in the fire.
Something is Killing the Children is one of the most commercially successful and acclaimed horror comics to come around in the last decade. More than 40 issues in, it’s ripe for an adaptation, with TV providing an avenue for the story to breathe, rather than somehow condense it to just a couple of hours. For those who may not be familiar, the synopsis for the comics reads as follows:
“When the children of Archer’s Peak begin to go missing, everything seems hopeless. Most children never return, but the ones that do have terrible stories—impossible stories of terrifying creatures that live in the shadows. Their only hope of finding and eliminating the threat is the arrival of a mysterious stranger, one who believes the children and claims to see what they can see.
Her name is Erica Slaughter. She kills monsters. That is all she does, and she bears the cost because it must be done.”
The Something is Killing the Children TV show remains without a release date but stay tuned. For more, get the latest on the ongoing saga that is Saw 11.
