For the better part of the 21st century, The Walking Dead reigned as one of the most successful and intense shows in the world during its run on AMC. Led by stars like Norman Reedus, Andrew Lincoln, Lauren Cohan, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan, the show follows Lincoln’s Rick Grimes after waking up from a coma and discovering that a zombie apocalypse had sent the world into complete madness. Boasting some of the most-viewed episodes in TV history, the series has not only birthed multiple spin-offs but also set the stage for countless shows that utilize similar visual and thematic palettes.
Some of these shows have also been based on other media, as projects like The Last of Us have dominated the streaming world during the 2020s. Apple TV’s See, The CW’s The 100, and AMC’s Into the Badlands have all featured similar apocalyptic elements over the years, making this genre one of the most popular in entertainment. Now, that trend continues into the back half of the decade, with another new adaptation bringing a terrifying graphic novel to the small screen in live-action.
Deadline confirmed that Amazon MGM Studios has given a formal series greenlight to a new horror drama called Stillwater, created by Greg Berlanti (Arrow) and Carly Wray (Mad Men), which will air on Prime Video. The series is based on a Skybound graphic novel by Chip Zdarsky and Ramón K. Pérez, and it has received an eight-episode order for its first season. This story is a mind-bending horror thriller centered on ex-con Daniel West, who receives a mysterious letter promising answers about his past and a massive inheritance in the small town of Stillwater. From here, he discovers a community in which nothing ever ages, nobody dies, and nobody ever escapes.
Berlanti and Wray shared a statement about this move, detailing how it is “far beyond the usual immortality story” and describing it as a story about a community “that has to decide what forever is worth:”
“We’re thrilled to dive into ‘Stillwater’ because it’s far beyond the usual immortality story. It’s a horror show about a community that has to decide what forever is worth, and what they’re willing to do to protect it. Chip Zdarsky and Ramón K. Pérez created an extraordinary world that’s both terrifying and deeply human, and we’re so grateful to our partners at Amazon, WBTV, and Skybound for trusting us to bring such a beloved title to life. We couldn’t be more excited for fans, and everyone discovering this story for the first time, to meet Daniel West and all the eerie townsfolk lying in wait for him.”
Amazon obtained the show in a bidding war and gave it a straight-to-series order, which had contingencies attached in the form of delivering a pilot script and a first-season bible. From there, it was greenlit and pushed into production, but there are no other production or release details currently available.
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