Paul Giamatti Starring in ‘Hostel’ TV Series Adaptation

Roth, who created the ‘Hostel’ movie series, is on board to co-write, produce and direct episodes of the series, which has yet to find a TV home.

(Left) Paul Giamatti at the 81st Annual Golden Globe Awards, airing live from the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California on Sunday, January 7, 2024, at 8 PM ET/5 PM PT, on CBS and streaming on Paramount+. Photo: Sonja Flemming/CBS ©2024 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved. (Right) 2005's 'Hostel'. Photo: Lions Gate Films.

Preview:

Paul Giamatti has agreed to star in a ‘Hostel’ TV series.
‘Hostel’ director Eli Roth is involved in the new show.
The show will update the horror concept.

Back in the mid-2000s, Eli Roth’s ‘Hostel’ horror movies were a big part of the “torture porn” horror movie wave that also included the ‘Saw’ franchise.

While the ‘Saw’ movies are sticking with the big screen, it appears ‘Hostel’ –– which last showed up on home entertainment –– is packing its bags and heading for TV.

With Roth back to co-write, produce and direct episodes of the show, the ‘Hostel’ series will feature ‘The Holdovers’ Oscar nominee Paul Giamatti in a key (but unknown) role.

Hostel

"Welcome to your worst nightmare."

R1 hr 34 minJan 6th, 2006

Watch Hostel Online

What’s the story of the ‘Hostel’ movies?

Jay Hernandez's 2005's 'Hostel'. Photo: Lions Gate Films.

Originally released in 2005, written and directed by Roth, the first ‘Hostel’ follows a group of American tourists as they end up in Slovakia where they are eventually taken one-by-one by an organization that allows people to torture and kill others. It earned $82 million at the box office.

In the second movie, again directed by Roth and released in 2007, three American female art students in Rome are directed to a Slovak village where they are eventually kidnapped and taken to a facility in which rich clients pay to torture and kill people. That film added $36 million to the franchise’s coffers.

Finally, Roth handed the reins of the franchise over to Scott Spiegel, who directed the straight-to-DVD follow-up ‘Hostel: Part III’, released in 2011, following four men attending a bachelor party in Las Vegas. While there, they are enticed by two prostitutes to join them at a private party way off the Strip. Once there, they are horrified to find themselves the subjects of a perverse game of torture, where members of the Elite Hunting Club are hosting the most sadistic show in town.

The new series, according to The Hollywood Reporter, is apparently going to be a modern adaptation of the movie’s concept and its reinvention as an elevated thriller.

Paul Giamatti on his Eli Roth Connection

Paul Giamatti stars in 'The Holdovers.'

This marks the first time that Roth and Giamatti have worked directly together, but it sprang from their first meeting years ago.

Here’s what Giamatti told Entertainment Weekly:

“Eli was shooting ‘Hostel’ in Prague, and I was shooting ‘The Illusionist’ and I met him. We talked about me actually killing somebody in that movie, but it never panned out.”

Who else is involved in the ‘Hostel’ series?

Director/Producer Eli Roth speaks at the Los Angeles Fan Screening for Tristar Pictures and Spyglass Media Group's 'Thanksgiving' at Vista Theatre on November 14, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Stewart Cook/Getty Images for Sony Pictures.

While there is no other casting to report yet, the ‘Hostel’ series will see Roth reuniting with movie producers Chris Briggs and Mike Fleiss, with Briggs also co-writing the first script for the series.

When will the ‘Hostel’ series be on screens?

While the show has the backing of Fifth Season, the company that produces ‘Severance’ for Apple, ‘Hostel’ has yet to find a home on the small screen yet, since it’s still at the development stage. So we’ll have to wait and see if it makes a deal before a launch date is specified.