Lifetime Orders The Omen-Inspired Horror Series Damien

Lifetime has given a straight-to-series order to Damien, a horror drama inspired by 1976 Richard Donner film The Omen. Former The Walking Dead showrunner Glen Mazzara wrote the pilot and will act as executive producer for the series, which will have six episodes in its first season.

“Glen Mazzara has re-imagined him as a dark, romantic, anti-hero and this fresh take blends complex characters with premium storytelling to make something truly original,” said Rob Sharenow, exec vp and general manager of Lifetime.

Damien is said to follow the adult life of Damien Thorn, the child from the film series, as he comes to terms with his true identity as the Antichrist. No casting has been announced yet, though Damien will reportedly premiere sometime next year.

Damien joins a growing scripted slate at Lifetime that includes recent orders The Clan of the Cave Bear, about a young Cro-Magnon woman who finds herself separated from her family. and Un-Real, which follows the behind the scenes action at a reality dating series in the vein of The Bachelor. Lifetime hasn’t been shy about embracing genre content, as they’re currently airing both Witches of East End and The Lottery, and with the cancellation of Drop Dead Diva and the limbo status Devious Maids currently resides in, they needed to beef up their scripted content that much more. The only questions about the project involve whether its ties to the original film will be helpful in the end and whether a show that could go this dark will be able to draw a large enough audience to sustain itself.

You can check out a trailer for the original Omen film below.

Will you be watching Damien? Do you think a show with this type of premise can work on a network like Lifetime? Should Lifetime continue exploring genre content a’la Witches of East End and Damien or should they continue trying to diversify their scripted slate?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVK42hD9IaY