Martin Scorsese's popular 1991 film Cape Fear is being adapted into a TV series by Apple TV+. Academy award-winner Javier Bardem will be taking on the lead role in the series.
Nick Antosca, best known for creating true crime dramas like A Friend of the Family and The Act is writing the series and will serve as its showrunner. Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg will executive producing the series along with Bardem.
According to the makers, the 10-episode series will be a tense, Hitchcockian thriller and an examination of America’s obsession with true crime in the 21st century. It is likely to follow the plot of the original film which follows happily married attorneys Amanda and Steve Bowden who face growing trouble as Max Cady (played by Bardem), a notorious killer from their past, gets out of prison.
Nick Nolte played Sam Bowden while Jessica Lange starred as Leigh Bowden in the Scorsese film. Robert De Niro took on the role of the vicious killer Max Cady, a role that was iconic for its time. The 1991 film was a remake of the 1962 film by J Lee Thompson, which was based on the 1957 novel The Executioners by John D MacDonald.
The series marks the latest collaboration for Amblin Television and Apple TV+ following Masters of the Air. Apple also recently collaborated with Scorsese on Killers of the Flower Moon.
Bardem, who most recently starred in Dune: Part Two and Netflix series Monster, will also soon be seen in Apple Original Films’ highly anticipated feature F1, set to premiere in theaters globally on June 25, 2025.