Get ready to head back to Texas. A24 has officially secured the film and television rights to ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’. The legendary franchise, which began in 1974 with a Tobe Hooper-directed indie feature of the same name, had its rights tossed around for a chunk of last year. The bidding war had drew the interest of horror tycoons such as Oz Perkins and Jordan Peele, with Taylor Sheridan also taking part.
The first project to come from A24 will be the TV series with JT Mollner serving as showrunner. Mollner is most recently known for penning the 2025 dystopian Stephen King adaptation The Long Walk, as well as directing/writing 2024’s Strange Darling starring Kyle Gallner and Willa Fitzgerald. Producers on the series also include Spooky Pictures’ Roy Lee and Steven Schneider, who teamed with Mollner previously on Strange Darling, as well as actor Glen Powell (The Running Man, Twisters) and original TCM co-creator Kim Henkel, amongst others.
The producing team, minus Mollner, will also helm the film project alongside ImageNation. It was previously rumored to be packaged into a Netflix deal, but confirmation on that has yet to come.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise has already spawned eight follow-up film projects to the original that include sequels, reboots, and remakes across multiple sub-genres, filmmakers, and studios. The IP is also home to comic, novel, and video game adaptations. It is unclear whether the A24 properties will serve as a clean slate or a continuation of Hooper’s 1974 original.
Of the news, Moller had to say “I’ve said publicly that I’m not interested in remaking perfect films, and the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a perfect film. Tobe Hooper and Kim Henkel created something bold, transgressive and truly seminal that holds up even today as the gold standard for horror. When the opportunity for a longform exploration into this world arose, I saw it as a fresh way in, as well as a way to honor the existing folklore. I can’t imagine better partners for this approach than A24. This is truly an honor.”
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