‘Last of the Mohicans’ TV Series Lands at HBO Max (Exclusive)

Nearly a year after it was taken out to market, Paramount Television’s The Last of the Mohicans reboot has found a home.

WarnerMedia’s forthcoming streaming service HBO Max has handed out a script order for the TV series based on James Fenimore Cooper’s historic novel. Written by Emmy winner Cary Joji Fukunaga (True Detective) and Nick Osborne (Remember Me, All About Steve), the series has Nicole Kassell (Watchmen) on board to direct.

The new take is described as a retelling of Cooper’s French and Indian War novel that focuses on the unlikely romance between Uncas, a young Mohican, and Cora, the mixed-race daughter of a British colonel.

First put into development in April, the project hails from Paramount Television, where Fukunaga is under an overall deal. For the Nicole Clemens-led studio, Fukunaga has also executive produced the Netflix limited series Maniac and TNT’s The Alienist after breaking out as the award-winning director on season one of HBO anthology True Detective.

Fukunaga, Osborne and Kassell will exec produce alongside Anonymous Content’s Alex Goldstone and Bard Dorros as well as Sugar23’s Michael Sugar. Parliament of Owls is also on board as a production company.

The HBO Max project is the latest TV and film adaptation of Last of the Mohicans. The 1920 feature film adaptation is considered a “culturally significant” take by the Library of Congress and is part of the U.S. National Film Registry. Other efforts include a 1992 feature starring Daniel Day-Lewis and a 1971 BBC series. FX previously developed the novel in 2013, but the project did not move forward.

For her part, Kassell has been garnering critical praise for helming Damon Lindelof’s HBO drama Watchmen after working with the showrunner on The Leftovers. Her credits include TNT’s Claws, Westworld, Better Call Saul, Rectify, Castle Rock and American Crime.

Last of the Mohicans is the latest project from Paramount TV that has been set up at HBO Max, joining Grease: Rydell High, the Cristin Milioti-led comedy Made for Love and the limited series Station Eleven, starring Mackenzie Davis. The now Viacom-controlled studio also is behind Netflix’s 13 Reasons Why and The Haunting of Hill House; Apple’s Defending Jacob and Home Before Dark; USA Network’s Briarpatch; and the Hulu limited series Catch-22 and Looking for Alaska.

HBO Max is set to launch in May and feature a roster of scripted originals and library titles (including Friends and Big Bang Theory) as well as programming from across parent company WarnerMedia’s portfolio. The service will cost $15 a month.