Jordan Peele is adding a new narrative television drama about Nazi hunters to his growing slate of projects exploring the racism lurking in everyday American life.
The Hollywood Reporter (THR) reported yesterday (September 20) that the "Get Out" filmmaker will executive produce "The Hunt" for a still undetermined network. The drama series draws from true events to depict what THR describes as "a diverse band of Nazi hunters in 1970s America as they set out on a quest for revenge and justice—tracking and killing hundreds of Nazis who, with the unconscionable help of the U.S. government, escaped justice and embedded themselves in American society."
Reports about the project surface during a period of heightened public visibility of neo-Nazi and other White supremacist hate groups in the United States. Anonymous insiders tell THR that "The Hunt" circulated around Hollywood soon after last month’s deadly "Unite the Right" rally of White hate groups in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Peele will produce the series through Sonar Entertainment and his own Monkeypaw Productions. "The Hunt" is Peele’s first project under a first-look deal he signed with Sonar in February. David Weil ("Moonfall") will write the script. Per THR, the project is already fielding bids from interested networks.
Deadline reported in May that "Get Out" earned over $200 million in international ticket sales, the highest gross for a debut film with an original screenplay ever. The psychological horror film made Peele the first Black writer and director to earn more than $100 million with a debut film.
The success of "Get Out" propelled Peele into the producer’s seat for two other projects dealing with anti-Black racism: "Lovecraft Country," an HBO series that "Underground" creator Misha Green adapted from Matt Ruff’s 2016 speculative fiction novel about a Black Army veteran searching for his father in Jim Crow America; and "Black Klansman," a feature film with "Do the Right Thing" auteur Spike Lee that is inspired by Black ex-detective Ron Stallworth’s 2014 memoir about his infiltration of a Ku Klux Klan chapter.