Emily Deschanel has signed on to star in the Netflix limited series Devil in Ohio, based on the bestselling book by Daria Polatin. Polatin (Jack Ryan, Hunters) is on board to guide the series adaptation as showrunner and executive producer.
According to Netflix’s official announcement, the limited series will consist of eight 45-minute episodes. Production is currently underway in Vancouver with John Fawcett, Brad Anderson, Leslie Hope, and Steve Adelson confirmed as directors.
Additional cast members include Sam Jaeger as ‘Peter,’ Gerardo Celasco as ‘Detective Lopez,’ Madeleine Arthur as ‘Mae’, Xaria Dotson as ‘Jules,’ Alisha Newton as ‘Helen,’ and Naomi Tan as ‘Dani.’
Netflix released this synopsis of the series:
“When hospital psychiatrist Dr. Suzanne Mathis shelters a mysterious cult escapee, her world is turned upside down as the strange girl’s arrival threatens to tear her own family apart.”
In an October 2017 interview with Horror Fuel, Polatin discussed why she decided to write Devil in Ohio after working as a writer on series including Weeds and Shut Eye. “Because I work in mediums, I am always looking for the right medium for the right story. I wrote a pilot about a cult and I was interested in these kinds of isolated communities and what they did to somebody. A producer friend brought me the true story of this young woman who had escaped from a satanic cult and had moved in with her psychiatrist’s family. So I felt like a novel was the best way to tell that story,” explained Polatin.
