Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg are set to executive produce a new Javier Bardem-led thriller series for Apple TV+ based on “Cape Fear,” a film with ties to both Scorsese and Spielberg.
Apple TV+ has granted a series order for “Cape Fear,” which will be written and showrun by Nick Antosca (“The Act,” “Candy,” “A Friend of the Family”). Antosca will executive produce alongside Scorsese, Spielberg and Bardem.
The series is based on John D. MacDonald’s 1957 novel “The Executioners,” which inspired Gregory Peck’s 1962 film adaptation, “Cape Fear.” In the late 1980s, Steven Spielberg was attached to direct a new adaptation, but he passed the film over to friend Scorsese so he could make “Schindler’s List” instead. Scorsese cast Robert De Niro in the role that will be filled by Bardem, and the resulting 1991 film “Cape Fear” was a commercial success and scored Oscar nods for De Niro and Juliette Lewis.
The 10-episode “Cape Fear” show is described by the streamer as a tense, Hitchcockian thriller and an examination of America’s obsession with true crime in the 21st century. The official logline is as follows: “A storm is coming for happily married attorneys Amanda and Steve Bowden when Max Cady (Bardem), a notorious killer from their past, gets out of prison.”
Beyond Bardem, no further casting information has been disclosed at this time. Nick Nolte and Jessica Lange played the couple in Scorsese’s film.
Antosca will executive produce “Cape Fear” alongside Alex Hedlund for Eat The Cat. Additional EPs include Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey for Amblin Television, where Spielberg also EPs.
The series hails from UCP, a division of Universal Studio Group, and Amblin Television. “Cape Fear” is developed and produced through Antosca’s overall deal at UCP.
The streamer recently collaborated with Amblin Television on “Masters of the Air,” which brought a close to Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman’s WWII miniseries trilogy, which also included “Band of Brothers” and “The Pacific.”
Likewise, Apple TV+ also debuted Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon,” which earned 10 Oscar nominations at the 96th Academy Awards. Bardem will also star in Apple Original Films’ “F1,” which will debut in theaters globally on June 25, 2025.
In September, news broke that Katie Dippold and Hiro Murai would be teaming up on a horror-comedy series for Apple TV+ titled “Widow’s Bay.” The project centers on a “mysteriously cursed New England island and its superstitious citizens, led by a mayor who refuses to believe their warnings,” according to the official logline.
