HBO and A24 are developing an Angel Heart drama series with Zac Efron attached to star and executive produce, putting a new screen version of the 1987 cult title into motion nearly four decades after the original film arrived in theaters.
The project gives Efron another turn with A24, after The Iron Claw and ahead of the dark comedy Famous, and it places him at the center of a story built from William Hjortsberg’s 1978 novel Fallen Angel and its sequel Angel’s Inferno. Zach Baylin is writing and executive producing, while Jonathan van Tulleken is expected to direct several episodes and executive produce.
Hjortsberg’s story follows a down-and-out New York City paparazzi hired by a mysterious man to track down a missing woman. As he digs deeper, the search begins to look less like a straightforward disappearance and more like a cover-up involving powerful elites and something that may be supernatural. That mix of noir, menace and occult unease is what made Alan Parker’s 1987 film stand apart, even if it did not land cleanly at first.
Parker’s movie starred Mickey Rourke, Lisa Bonet and Robert De Niro, but its release was met with mixed reviews and underwhelming box office returns. It also drew controversy over an X rating tied to a graphic sex scene that was later cut down so the film could secure an R rating. The rough reception did not end the film’s life; it later gathered a cult following, which is why the material is being revived now as a modern take on an ’80s cult classic.
For Efron, the new series extends a partnership with A24 that has already produced The Iron Claw and is moving toward Famous, making Angel Heart the third project in that run. The next step is development, not production, and no premiere date or filming timeline has been announced. That leaves the central question on the business side and the creative side still open: how far HBO and A24 are prepared to lean into the original film’s darker edges when they bring the story to television.
