Culture 3 min read By Trevor Kendall
Sarah Snook lands lead role in HBO limited series The Birds
Succession Emmy winner Sarah Snook will star in a limited series reimagining The Birds, now in development at HBO from Tom Spezialy, David Heyman and Universal Global Television.
Emmy-winning Succession star Sarah Snook is returning to HBO as the lead of The Birds, a limited series inspired by Alfred Hitchcock's 1963 film and Daphne du Maurier's novella. HBO has picked up the high-profile project for development after it was taken out by Universal Global Television earlier this past summer.
The series comes from a creative team that includes Tom Spezialy, David Heyman and Universal Global Television. Spezialy and Heyman are the key creative figures attached alongside the studio, and the project is being developed as a limited series rather than an open-ended run. Variety has separately confirmed that HBO is developing the show with Snook in the lead role, describing it as a limited series take on the Hitchcock classic.
The project draws on two sources. Hitchcock's film, which adapted du Maurier's story, follows a seaside California town hit by sudden, violent bird attacks and remains one of the most recognized thrillers of its era. Du Maurier's novella, the original text the story grew from, is the foundation the new series builds on. Both works are the starting point for a series presented as a fresh take on the material rather than a shot-for-shot retelling.
For Snook, the project marks a return to HBO following her work on Succession, the drama that earned her an Emmy and brought her wide recognition as Shiv Roy. Her attachment is a notable signal for the network's development slate, which has repeatedly leaned on established talent for its prestige limited series. The deal is a development arrangement, meaning the network has not yet committed to a full production order, and the project is not yet in production.
Hitchcock's film has been reinterpreted repeatedly over the decades, and the new series arrives as studios continue to revisit mid-century titles for contemporary audiences. The Birds has long been associated with the idea of an ordinary setting turned hostile without explanation, a quality that gives a limited series room to expand the premise beyond a two-hour runtime. How closely the series will follow the film's storyline, or whether it will move the premise into new territory, has not been disclosed.
No premiere date, additional cast members, writers or a broadcast timeline have been announced. For now, the confirmed facts are the lead casting, the creative team, the source material and the HBO development deal, which together mark the project's first public step toward a series order.
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