Robert Kirkman is becoming quite the television entrepreneur. In addition to creating The Walking Dead comic book that the top-rated TV series is based on (and producing the show), he's been busy working on a spinoff for AMC that will follow a different set of characters in Los Angeles during and after the zombie outbreak. AMC also grabbed the rights to a more recent Kirkman comic, Thief of Thieves, back in 2012, though the show is still in development.
But don't think that Robert Kirkman is done, because it looks like he's just getting started.
Kirkman's latest creation, a horror title called Outcast, landed at Cinemax in late 2013. Today, the pay-cable network announced that it's picked up Outcast for a full 10-episode first season. A pilot episode has been produced, and the first season was ordered on its merits. Though Kirkman is the sole writer and creator credited on the comic book, the show was created by Kirkman and Mad Men's Chris Black.
Outcast is the story of a man named Kyle Barnes, who's a victim of demon possession. Having suffered from possession his whole life, he enlists the help of a preacher named Anderson to find answers about his mysterious past and rid himself of demons permanently. Barnes has a connection to a young boy across town named Joshua Austin, who may or may not be suffering from demonic possession as well. But Barnes and Anderson soon find out that their quest isn't what they think it is, and it's set them on a course that could change the fate of the entire world.
Perhaps most intriguingly, Kirkman has said that the comic book Outcast, published by Image Comics, is the first comic idea he's ever had where he knew the ending before he began writing. Kirkman has told fans several times that he has no set plan for The Walking Dead and could conceivably keep writing it forever. Whether or not the TV series Outcast will follow the comic's blueprint is unknown.
Very happy to be a part of the @Cinemax family! #Outcast couldn't have a better home!
— Robert Kirkman (@RobertKirkman) February 12, 2015
The show stars Gone Girl's Patrick Fugit as Kyle Barnes, and Life on Mars' Philip Glenister as Reverend Anderson. Young Joshua Austin is played by actor Gabriel Bateman, who most recently starred on CBS' Stalker alongside Dylan McDermott and Maggie Q. The pilot was directed by Adam Wingard, and the show is produced by David Alpert, Sharon Tal Yguado and Sue Naegle.
Cinemax has not yet set a premiere date for Outcast.
