Bill Hader to co-write an potentially star in a series about the unthinkable events at Jonestown for HBO

Anyone familiar with the 1978 events at the Peoples Temple Agricultural Project, a.k.a. Jonestown, knows groupthink can become poison for the soul. According to Variety, Bill Hader (Barry, Saturday Night Live) and Daniel Zelman (Fool’s Gold, Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid) are developing an HBO series revolving around Jim Jones and the madness leading up to the mass suicide at Jonestown. Bill Hader is co-writing the Jonestown series project while eyeing a potential starring role. Zelman will co-write the series with Hader, with the duo serving as co-showrunners and executive producers. Hader will get behind the camera to direct if the Jonestown series receives a green light.

Jim Jones founded the Peoples Temple in the 1950s. As word spread during the 1970s, the project grew into the infamous Jonestown in the African nation of Guyana. Transfixed by Jones’ charisma and snake-like words, 900+ followers of the Peoples Temple, including Jones, died in a mass murder-suicide orchestrated by Jones in 1978.

Understandably, scholars, authors, podcast producers, and Hollywood are still studying the tragic Jonestown atrocity. In 1980, a two-part CBS miniseries starring Powers Boothe recounted the horrific events, Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones. More recently, Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan tried developing a Jonestown series at HBO, but it stalled.

An estimated 918 individuals died in and around Jonestown, save for two from cyanide poisoning. Many got injected against their will. According to records, seventy or more individuals became injected with poison, with a third of the victims being minors. To ensure the success of the “revolutionary suicide,” armed guards were stationed around the area to shoot anyone who tried to escape the area. The Jonestown tragedy is still being studied, with many questioning the circumstances surrounding the mass killings.

If Bill Hader and Daniel Zelman’s Jonestown series goes forward, they’ll need to go to some dark places to discover the truth about what happened and how so many became a part of the ritual. If the project moves forward, I do hope Hader plays Jim Jones. We’ve seen Hader be charming on screen. Still, there’s also a darkness to him, and he’d be perfect for the role.

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