Adam McKay’s next project at HBO will take on the timeliest of subjects: the race to develop a vaccine for COVID-19.
The premium cable outlet has optioned rights to journalist Brendan Borrell’s forthcoming book The First Shot, about the companies involved in the research, the science of vaccines and challenges regarding access and safety. Borrell has written about the novel coronavirus pandemic for National Geographic, Wired and Science.
McKay (Succession) is developing the book as a limited series via his Hyperobject Industries. McKay, Todd Schulman and Borrell are set to executive produce.
The First Shot will be published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, which won the book at auction. A publication date hasn’t been set.
The vaccine project falls under McKay’s lucrative overall deal at HBO, signed last year. Hyperobject Industries has several projects in the works at the WarnerMedia outlet, including a limited series about the 1980s Los Angeles Lakers; Miami Herald reporter Julie K. Brown’s upcoming book about Jeffrey Epstein; and an adaptation of Bong Joon Ho’s best picture winner Parasite. Season three of Succession, meanwhile, is tentatively set to begin production later this year.
McKay is also developing a scripted anthology series about climate change at streamer HBO Max.
Deadline first reported the news.
THR Newsletters
Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day