According to Deadline, Mad Max: Fury Road star Tom Hardy and Deadpool 2 actress Zazie Beetz have officially joined Apple TV+’s upcoming true crime drama series titled Lazarus. Based on writing duo Lars Kepler’s bestselling Joona Linna novel series, the project is still in the early stages of development.
Lazarus will be written, directed, and executive produced by Øystein Karlsen. Hardy and Beetz will be playing the respective roles of serial killer Jurek Walter and Inspector Saga Bauer, whose relationship in the series is being likened to the dynamic between Hannibal Lecter and Clarice Starling in The Silence of the Lambs movie.
“In the series, an emaciated young man is found wandering along a train track,” reads the synopsis. “Thirteen years earlier, he and his sister went missing, presumed victims of the notorious serial killer Jurek Walter. To find the sister, police detective Saga Bauer must go undercover in the maximum-security psychiatric hospital where Walter has been kept since his arrest years ago.”
In addition to starring, Hardy has also signed on to produce along with Dean Baker through their Hardy Son & Baker banner. Beetz is also set as an executive producer with author Lars Kepler (pseudonym for Alexandra Coelho Ahndoril and Alexander Ahndoril).
Lazarus will also be executive produced by David Rysdahl, Niclas Salomonsson, Barry Jossen, and Tana Jamieson for A+E Studios, and Heather Kadin, Peter Micelli, and Jack Whigham for Range Studios.