News The Chain The Chain: Damon Lindelof to Adapt Adrian McKinty’s Horror Novel for HBO Stephen King has dubbed the book “nightmarish, propulsive and original” By Vanessa Armstrong | Published on January 29, 2026 Damon Lindelof photo credit: Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons Comment 0 Share New Share Damon Lindelof photo credit: Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons Damon Lindelof, whose previous credits include showrunning Lost, The Leftovers, and Watchmen, has found his next project. According to The Hollywood Reporter, he will be working on a new series for HBO called The Chain, an adaptation of a 2019 eponymous novel by Adrian McKinty. Here’s the blurb for that novel, per Goodreads: It’s something parents do every morning: Rachel Klein drops her daughter at the bus stop and heads into her day. But a cell phone call from an unknown number changes everything: it’s a woman on the line, informing her that she has Kylie bound and gagged in her back seat, and the only way Rachel will see her again is to follow her instructions exactly: pay a ransom, and find another child to abduct. This is no ordinary kidnapping: the caller is a mother herself, whose son has been taken, and if Rachel doesn’t do as she’s told, the boy will die.“You are not the first. And you will certainly not be the last.” Rachel is now part of The Chain, an unending and ingenious scheme that turns victims into criminals—and is making someone else very rich in the process. The rules are simple, the moral challenges impossible; find the money fast, find your victim, and then commit a horrible act you’d have thought yourself incapable of just twenty-four hours ago.But what the masterminds behind The Chain know is that parents will do anything for their children. It turns out that kidnapping is only the beginning. “From the moment I heard the wild and original premise of Adrian’s book, I was shocked, surprised and angry I hadn’t thought of it myself,” Lindelof told The Hollywood Reporter. “I’ve always wanted to try to adapt a great thriller and this one has all the dark, weird, exhilarating touches that fire up my imagination. I feel so fortunate to re-team with [Francesca Orsi, Casey Bloys and Michael Ellenberg], who first brought me to HBO fifteen years ago and I can’t wait to make The Chain a memorable link in their outstanding legacy.” The novel is also touted as being “Jaws for parents,” which I take to mean that a frenzy of sharks is behind the entire kidnapping scheme. Lindelof has drafted a pilot script with Carly Wray and Breannah Gibson. No news yet on casting or when the HBO show will go into production. [end-mark] The post <i>The Chain</i>: Damon Lindelof to Adapt Adrian McKinty’s Horror Novel for HBO appeared first on Reactor.