A24 Sets Texas Chainsaw Massacre Series With Strange Darling Filmmaker JT Mollner

A24 is moving ahead with its next take on The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, launching a television series that will serve as the first project under the company’s newly acquired rights to the long-running horror franchise.

The series will be shepherded by JT Mollner, marking a continuation of his collaboration with producers Roy Lee and Steven Schneider of Spooky Pictures following their recent film Strange Darling. The project emerges months after A24 prevailed in a competitive auction for the franchise’s film and television rights, which closed last September and was overseen by Verve.

Executive producers on the series include Lee and Schneider alongside Mollner, with additional EPs Stuart Manashil, Image Nation’s Ben Ross, Barnstorm’s Glen Powell and Dan Cohen, and Exurbia Films’ Kim Henkel, who co-created the original 1974 film with Tobe Hooper. Powell is attached in a producing capacity only. Also producing are Exurbia’s Ian Henkel and Pat Cassidy.

In addition to the series, a new Texas Chainsaw Massacre feature film is in early development with the same producing team and Image Nation. Mollner is not involved with the film project, which has yet to be packaged, and its eventual distributor has not been determined. While earlier reports suggested Netflix as a possible home, no platform is currently attached.

Verve has represented the franchise since 2017 and conducted the recent auction, which attracted interest from a range of studios and high-profile creatives, including Oz Perkins, Jordan Peele and Taylor Sheridan. Exurbia Films remains the primary production company behind the property, with Kim Henkel, Pat Cassidy and Ian Henkel continuing as producers.

Released in 1974 on a reported budget of $140,000, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was distributed by Bryanston Distributing Company and went on to gross approximately $31 million, though its filmmakers were famously cut out of meaningful profits. In 1983, New Line Cinema acquired distribution rights to the franchise, ultimately releasing nine films that collectively grossed more than $252 million worldwide. The property has since expanded into comics, novels and video games.

Mollner emphasized that the series is not intended as a remake of Hooper and Henkel’s film. “I’ve said publicly that I’m not interested in remaking perfect films, and the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a perfect film,” he said. “When the opportunity for a longform exploration into this world arose, I saw it as a fresh way in, and a way to honor the existing folklore. I can’t imagine better partners for this approach than A24.”

Powell echoed the sentiment, calling the original film one of his personal touchstones. “It defined a generation of horror films and remains one of the definitive movies of my home state,” he said. “With a filmmaker like JT Mollner and a home like A24, it feels like the right team to usher in a new chapter.”

Henkel added that A24’s track record with boundary-pushing genre projects made the company a natural fit. “There’s an epic tale lurking in the Chainsaw backstory,” he said, “and this team gives us the best chance to tell it in a way that’s genuinely unexpected.”