HBO acquires "The Birds" limited series starring Sarah Snook

HBO has acquired a limited‑series adaptation of Alfred Hitchcock’s 1963 film The Birds, with Emmy‑winner Sarah Snook set to star. Writer Tom Spezialy, known for The Leftovers and Watchmen, is developing the script. The project comes from Universal International Studios and Heyday Television, a joint venture of David Heyman and Universal International Studios. Deadline reports the package has landed at HBO and is being fast‑tracked.

A fresh Alaska setting

The new series is described as a visceral, present‑day reimagining set in Alaska, the home state of writer Spezialy. It follows traveling magistrate Myra Massey (Snook), who returns to her isolated hometown for a routine presumptive‑death hearing, only to discover the bullet‑ridden body of a childhood friend. As she steps outside her judicial role to untangle a murder mystery, nature turns hostile with a wave of bird attacks that threaten the town’s residents.

The storyline draws on Daphne du Maurier’s 1952 novella The Birds, which originally took place in Cornwall and was loosely adapted by Hitchcock into a 1963 film set in California. Previous attempts to remake the tale—including a 2007 feature with Naomi Watts, a 2014 rewrite, and a 2017 BBC adaptation—failed to reach production. This version seeks to distance itself from the film by changing the setting to Alaska and centering the story on a modern, female magistrate instead of the film’s socialite protagonist.

Snook, who is coming off further small‑screen success in Peacock’s All Her Fault and won a Tony Award for the Broadway production of The Picture of Dorian Gray, is set to lead the series. Producer David Heyman, known for the Harry Potter films, is also involved. With the project now at HBO, one outlet hopes the series will move quickly into production.