Leftovers writer-producer Patrick Somerville has been tapped to write Maniac, the high-profile upcoming Netflix half-hour series starring Emma Stone and Jonah Hill and directed by Cary Fukunaga. The project, based on the the 2014 Norwegian series, hails from Paramount TV and Anonymous Content and has a 10-episode straight-to-series order.
The premise of Maniac revolves around the fantasy world of Hill’s character, who in his real life is confined to a mental institution. Stone plays a fellow patient. The duo and Fukunaga executive produce along with Michael Sugar and Doug Wald of Anonymous Content, Kruke Kristiansen & Anne Kolbjornsen and Espen PA Lervaag & Kjetil Indegard. Ashley Zalta will co-executive produce.
Somerville is coming off a stint as a writer/producer on the HBO drama The Leftovers. He previously has written for the FX series The Bridge, and Fox’s 24: Live Another Day. Somerville also has written two collections of stories – Trouble (2006) and The Universe in Miniature in Miniature (2010) – and two novels, The Cradle (2009) and This Bright River (2012). Somerville is repped by WME and Principato-Young.
