Following three cult movies that ran in theaters in 2013, 2014 and 2016, "The Purge" will be coming to the small screen next. Set to debut on both USA Network and Syfy channels simultaneously, the show has been scheduled for airing in 2018. However, it won't have the same concept as the movies.
"The Purge" on television will focus on the non-Purge days, according to Blumhouse Television executive Jason Blum. Instead of telling a story about that one special day in the year when people can legally kill and commit every crime imaginable (a.k.a. The Purge), the show's episodes will dramatize what happens in the other 364 days when the "no crime law" is not in effect.
Jason Blum and "The Purge" movie director James DeMonaco expect the television show will run as a 10-episode anthology. They hope the show will lay the groundwork for the fourth movie offering, which has also been set for a 2018 release.
Exploring backstories
When "The Purge" TV show was in development last year, James DeMonaco expressed that the television format would be a good way for exploring backstories as it couldn't be done in the movies. "What might be interesting in a TV show is with a flashback narrative," he told Cinemablend in 2016. "If you start on Purge Night but you go back to show how people have gotten to where they are," he added.
Successful franchise
To date, the thriller franchise grossed over $320 million in the box office, with the third film "The Purge: Election" raking more than half of its profit.
The movies were made with a small budget of about $10 million each. Expanding the franchise on television is expected to make the franchise more successful.
The first movie, "The Purge," starred Ethan Hawke and Lena Headey. It focused on a rich Los Angeles family who became the target of gangs during Purge Night. The movie was set in just one house.
The second movie, "The Purge: Anarchy," starred Frank Grillo, Zach Gilford, Keile Sanchez and Michael K. Williams. This time, it explored Los Angeles' neighborhoods and the people who tried to last through the 12 hours of Purge Night.
The third film, set in 2040, once again starred Frank Gillo with Elizabeth Mitchell. She played Senator Charlie Roan, a leading presidential candidate who witnessed her family get butchered on Purge Night 18 years ago. This time, the law also abolished protection for government officials like Roan and Gillo's Leo Barnes, a retired cop, became her protector.
