Hulu has tapped “Veep” alum Tony Hale to star in its adaptation of “The Mysterious Benedict Society.”
Based on the novel by Trenton Lee Stewart, the series follows four gifted orphans who are recruited by an eccentric, benefactor to go on a secret mission. Placed undercover at a boarding school known as “The Institute,” they must foil a nefarious plot with global ramifications, while creating a new sort of family along the way.
Hale will pull double-duty on the series, starring as both Mr. Benedict, the “rumpled, affable eccentric genius” and head of the titular society, and his “frustratingly sharp, well put-together (if villainous)” twin brother, Mr. Curtain.
Matt Manfredi and and Phil Hay are adapting the series from the novels. Jamie Tarses and Karen Kehela Sherwood also serve as executive producers on the series from Sonar Entertainment and 20th Century Fox Television. “Shadowhunters” alums Darren Swimmer and Todd Slavkin will serve as showrunners for the series.
Published in 2007, “The Mysterious Benedict Society” has spawned three sequels as well as the prequel novel “The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict.” The most recent book in the series, “The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Riddle of the Ages,” was published last year.
Deadline first reported the news.