No one ever accused Hollywood of sleeping on an insane true story. According to The Hollywood Reporter, a TV series about the NXIVM cult is already in the works, though it's quite hard to imagine this television show could be even more surreal than the real-life drama unfolding in the news right now.
On Friday, Smallville actress Allison Mack was arrested due to her involvement in a cult that allegedly included sex trafficking. According to reports, Mack was a member of the organization "NXIVM" (pronounced "nexium") which was founded by Keith Raniere. NXIVM (and Mack herself) was accused of exploiting women "sexually and for their labor," per a statement from United States attorney Richard P. Donoghue.
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The strange and disturbing saga was first revealed to the world by Barry Meier's 2017 New York Times exposé "Inside a Secretive Group Where Women Are Branded." Now, Annapurna Television has optioned Meier's article with intentions of bringing a story about the cult to the small screen.
Per Annapurna's statement to The Hollywood Reporter, the show will be about "what happens when women, who join what they're told is a secret sisterhood created to empower them, find themselves psychologically enthralled and horrifically sexually enslaved to its leader — and their flesh branded with his initials."
Westworld star Shannon Woodward (she plays programmer Elsie on the series) will executive produce the show. Woodward actually seems like a fitting choice for the role of Mack, assuming that the former Smallville star receives a counterpart in the potential show. So far, no writer nor network is attached to the project.
It was also announced on Wednesday that a documentary about NXIVM is also in the works. Per Deadline, the doc will star actress Sarah Edmondson, who spent a decade inside the cult. According to the Deadline report, Edmondson was the first former member to speak out with allegations of abuse against the organization.