Lifetime’s Series “The Omen” Moves To A&E

The short series development for Lifetime’s “The Omen” sequel set-up was originally meant to air next year with only six episodes. Plans have since changed, mostly due to the high success of A&E’s ‘Bates Motel’, for the series to set up shop over on A&E with an extended ten episode run. Evil awesome sauce!!!!

Press Release:
Produced by Fox TV Studios, the six-episode Damien follows the adult life of Damien Thorn (Bradley James), the mysterious child from the 1976 film who has grown up, seemingly unaware of the satanic forces around him. Haunted by his past, Damien must now come to terms with his true destiny — that he is the Antichrist, the most feared man throughout the ages.

Initially Lifetime had given a straight-to-series order to “Damien,” from Glen Mazzara based on the 1976 horror pic “The Omen.” It was due for six episodes, but A&E have extended this to ten episodes.

“A&E’s unwavering commitment to high-quality original scripted drama programming, coupled with the sizable fanbase for our hit series ‘Bates Motel,’ which so perfectly aligns with ‘Damien,’ make the network the ideal fit for this exceptional show,” said Sharenow. “We are thrilled with what we’ve seen so far and know that Glen and the creative team have even more story to tell in season one.”

Mazzara is exec producer and showrunner the series for Fox 21 Television Studios. Ross Fineman and Pancho Mansfield also exec produce. Bradley James, Barbara Hershey, Omid Abtahi and Megalyn Echikunwoke star.

“Glen Mazzara has re-imagined him as a dark, romantic, anti-hero and this fresh take blends complex characters with premium storytelling to make something truly original,” said Lifetime exec VP and g.m. Rob Sharenow.

Titled Damien, the drama centers on the film’s young boy Damien Thorn. Now an adult and haunted by his past, Damien is faced with a series of macabre events and must finally face his true destiny: he is the Antichrist.

Damien marks Mazzara’s first TV gig following his season-and-a-half run on The Walking Dead, where he helped propel the zombie drama to then-record ratings. The Lifetime gig also marks his latest movie-to-TV adaptation, joining Starz’s Crash follow-up. On the big-screen, Mazzara is writing Overlook Hotel, a prequel to Stephen King’s horror classic, The Shining.