'The Alienist' Premiere: Ambitious TV Adaptation of Bestselling Crime Novel to Examine Inner Workings of Depraved Minds
Caleb Carr's 1994 bestselling crime novel, "The Alienist" is coming to the small screen as an event series on TNT. Set in 1896, with episode production reportedly averaging $5 million, the upcoming crime-drama series is one of the cable network's most ambitious projects yet.
In the 19th century, experts who studied the mentally ill were known as alienists. This was due to the fact that the mentally ill were thought to be alienated from their nature. German actor Daniel Brühl stars as one such expert named Dr. Laszlo Kreizler, who has been called to assist in the investigation of an especially gruesome case.
In "The Alienist," someone is targeting boy prostitutes in a series of brutal murders never before seen on the streets of New York City. These serial incidents will cause newly appointed top cop Theodore Roosevelt (Brian Geraghty) to ask three very different personalities to conduct a secret investigation.
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Joining Kreizler are John Moore (Luke Evans), a newspaper illustrator, and Sara Howard (Dakota Fanning), a headstrong secretary at the police headquarters. Together, they must navigate the dark and dangerous corners of the city in a quest to understand the workings of a depraved and ruthless mind.
However, the official trailer for the series shows a handful of complications they will have to face in their quest to resolve the case. There is Moore's growing affection for Sara, which can potentially mess with the former's logic — or so the alienist warns. And aside from Roosevelt, the trio are also not getting much support from the police department, who would really rather look the other way.
Moreover, the trailer teases how his almost obsessive hunger to get into the killer's mind will eventually take its toll on Kreizler's own mentality. Will he even be able to lead his team towards the ultimate resolution of the case before he completely loses his mind?
"The Alienist" has no definite release date yet, but it is expected to premiere during the 2017–18 television season.
