Jordan Peele's directorial debut Get Out was a major success when it was released earlier this year, making a cool $214.3 million (£165.6m) worldwide off the back of a $4.5m budget. Cinema-goers were so impressed by the dark comedy thriller in fact that fans became desperate to know what the 38-year-old filmmaker was going to work on next and now it seems he's finally chosen a worthy project; a dark fantasy television series, with horror undertones, for HBO.

Partnering with JJ Abrams' Bad Robot Productions and Warner Bros Television, the show will reportedly be an adaptation of Matt Ruff' novel Lovecraft Country. Published in 2016, the story follows 22-year-old Atticus Black whose father goes missing, leading him to embark on a road trip across 1950s Jim Crow America to find him, along with his friend Letitia and his Uncle George. Throughout the trio's journey however, they encounter not only the terrors of a predominantly white America but malevolent forces that Atticus had always doubted existed, despite his uncle telling him otherwise when he was growing up.

According to Deadline, the show aims to be "an anthological horror series that reclaims genre storytelling from the African-American perspective". Peele is set to executive produce the series, under his Monkeypaw Productions banner. Meanwhile, Misha Green (Underground) will act as writer and showrunner.

Get Out
Daniel Kaluuya as Chris in Peele's horror hit Get Out Universal Pictures

"When I first read Lovecraft Country I knew it had the potential to be unlike anything else on television," Green told the publication. "Jordan, JJ, Bad Robot, Warner Bros and HBO are all in the business of pushing the limits when it comes to storytelling, and I am beyond thrilled to be working with them on this project."

HBO is home to a number of hugely popular shows as diverse as Veep, Westworld, Big Little Lies and of course, Game of Thrones. With its backing and Peele's track record for handling this type of sensitive yet powerful and poignant material, Lovecraft Country is sure to be a hit when it reaches the small screen.

Jordan Peele
Jordan Peele is developing a horror fantasy drama series based on Matt Ruff's 2016 novel Lovecraft Country Lucy Nicholson / Reuters