An all-time movie classic is being spun off for the small screen as it has emerged that the rights holders behind One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest are cooking up a new series adaptation.
Speaking on indie filmmaking podcast CK Café, producer Paul Zaentz, the nephew of the film’s original producer Saul Zaentz, disclosed: “Just now, I’ve signed an agreement with Ken Kesey’s widow to develop a TV series which we’ll make through the point of view of the Chief for the first season. Following the first season, we’ll see what happens to the Chief after he escapes [from the psychiatric hospital].”
Kesey, author of the film’s source material, famously disavowed Milos Forman’s 1975 classic, in part because it diverged from his novel, which was told from the point of view of Chief Bromden, aka the ‘Chief’ (memorably played in the film by Will Sampson).
It’s not clear at this stage who, if anyone, is writing the new spinoff, or whether there is a studio aboard. We’ve reached out to Zaentz for further detail.
In anti-establishment firecracker One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, a rebellious convict — played in the movie by Jack Nicholson — is sent to a psychiatric hospital for evaluation in 1963 Oregon, and encourages his docile companions to take more control of their lives and defy the tyrannical head nurse.
Chief Bromden is the towering half-Native American patient who pretends to be deaf and mute. Over time, the antics of protagonist McMurphy coax him out of his disguise and he becomes a symbol of powerful resistance and emancipation.
As Michael Douglas told us earlier this year in our deep-dive interview about the making of One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, there has been no shortage of interest in potential remakes or spinoffs based on the material, but Zaentz has largely preferred to keep his powder dry. The only sanctioned TV spinoff to date has been Netflix’s 2020 prequel series Ratched, which only ran to one season. Zaentz was a producer on the show.
In podcast CK Café, Zaentz confirms that Fathom Events will re-release One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest this month in more than 1,000 screens across the U.S. to mark the 50th anniversary of the movie.
Zaentz expresses scepticism about film remakes of classic movies (“don’t remake Psycho,” he says), but muses that series can allow more time for character development. That said, in his mind, recent small screen adaptations of The Mosquito Coast and The Talented Mr Ripley, in the shape of Netflix’s Ripley, both fell short of the original movies.
In 2023, Paul Zaentz’s banner Teatro della Pace Films acquired the film library of the iconic Saul Zaentz Company, including Best Picture winners One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, The English Patient and Amadeus.
Paul worked on a number of films with his legendary uncle including as production controller on Amadeus, also directed by Forman, financial controller on Peter Weir’s The Mosquito Coast, associate producer on The Unbearable Lightness of Being, At Play in the Fields of the Lord and Anthony Minghella’s The English Patient. He was also exec producer on Goya’s Ghosts.
‘One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest’
