Sylvester Stallone‘s Balboa Productions is developing a series adaptation of the 4MK serial killer thriller novels by J.D. Barker, Deadline reports.
“The Walking Dead” veteran Channing Powell will serve as showrunner and writer, in addition to executive producing with Stallone and D. Matt Geller (Kiss of the Spider Woman).
The series will draw from Barker’s original 4MK trilogy — 2017’s The Fourth Monkey, 2018’s The Fifth to Die, and 2019’s The Sixth Wicked Child — as well as the recently announced prequel trilogy, which kicks off with The First Scarlet Door on September 22.
Set in Chicago, Barker’s novels follow Detective Sam Porter as he hunts the elusive Four Monkey Killer, a murderer who has terrorized the city for years with a chilling and highly personal code of judgment.
Guided by the maxim “hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil,” the killer removes the ears, eyes, and tongues of his victims, turning every crime scene into a ritualized message. But the true horror lies in the unspoken fourth commandment, “do no evil,” which reveals the killer’s deeper agenda: exposing hidden corruption by punishing the guilty through the people they love most.
“J.D. Barker has created a world with enormous scale, real danger, a ruthless narrative engine, and the kind of mythology that is tailor-made for premium television,” said Stallone. “Channing Powell is not only a powerhouse writer and producer, but a true creator with a rare command of dark, character-driven storytelling, and she is exactly the right force to bring 4MK to the screen. This is the kind of property that audiences don’t just watch, but get pulled into, and it has all the makings of a series that can hit hard, travel globally, and leave a real mark.”
“What drew me to 4MK immediately was its intensity, its intelligence, and the way it keeps tightening the screws until you can barely breathe,” added Powell. “Beneath the suspense is a story about guilt, justice, corruption, and the emotional wreckage people leave behind. J.D. Barker has created a world that is bold, dangerous, and deeply addictive, and Sylvester Stallone and the Balboa team provide the invaluable support needed to bring my adaptation to the screen, driving this series toward real scale.”
“From the start, 4MK was designed to be a relentless, psychologically charged ride, one where every revelation cuts deeper, every secret carries a cost, and every character is forced to confront the darkest parts of themselves,” notes Barker. “Sylvester Stallone and the team at Balboa immediately saw the power, danger, and franchise potential in that world, and Channing brings exactly the kind of instinct for character, tension, and longform storytelling that can make it land with real force on screen. With this creative force, 4MK won’t just be gripping television, it will be the kind of series that gets under people’s skin and stays there. I couldn’t be more excited to see it come to life.”
Powell worked as a writer and consulting producer on “The Walking Dead” and “Fear the Walking Dead” before co-creating and showrunning “Tales of the Walking Dead.” She currently serves as co-executive producer on “From.”
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