Amazon Studios has greenlit “The Horror of Dolores Roach,” based on the hit Gimlet podcast, with The Purge: Anarchy and above-pictured Final Destination 2‘s Justina Machado starring in the title role.
The series will premiere exclusively on Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide.
The eight-episode, half-hour series is a contemporary Sweeney Todd-inspired tale; a macabre urban legend of love, betrayal, weed, gentrification, cannibalism, and survival of the fittest.
Aaron Mark, who wrote and directed the original podcast, and Dara Resnik will serve as co-showrunners and executive produce the series, alongside Gloria Calderón Kellett and Roxann Dawson, who directed the pilot.
The plot sees “Dolores Roach is released from prison after 16 years and returns to a severely gentrified Washington Heights with $200 and the clothes on her back. Her is boyfriend missing, her family long gone, Dolores reunites with an old stoner buddy, Luis, who gives her room and board and lets her give massages for cash in the basement under his dilapidated storefront, Empanada Loca, the only remnant of her former life. When the promise of her newfound stability is quickly threatened, ‘Magic Hands Dolores’ is driven to shocking extremes to survive, and in the face of unexpected professional success, Dolores and Luis become dangerously symbiotic, and Luis must unleash his own peculiar predilections.”
Jason Blum, Chris McCumber, and Jeremy Gold of Blumhouse Television and Chris Giliberti and Justin McGoldrick of Spotify executive produce. Alejandro Hernandez, Kita Updike, and K. Todd Freeman also star.