Sarah Snook is returning to television in a new limited series. The project reimagines Alfred Hitchcock’s thriller more than six decades after it first reached the screen.
Sarah Snook to lead TV show based on The Birds
The Birds draws from Daphne du Maurier’s 1952 short story and Hitchcock’s 1963 movie but carves out a distinct identity. The action shifts to present-day Alaska, replacing the original’s Bodega Bay setting with an isolated, snow-covered town. The Succession star will lead the drama for Universal International Studios and Heyday Television. Sarah Snook plays Myra Massey, a travelling magistrate who comes home expecting to close a straightforward case. Her plans unravel when she finds her childhood friend dead, the body pierced by bullets, Deadline reported.
What begins as a murder investigation soon becomes a fight for survival. The official description states that Myra steps beyond her judicial duties to solve the crime. A series of unexplained bird attacks leaves her trapped in a place where danger lurks both on the ground and in the air. The character is a deliberate departure from the original film’s lead, where Tippi Hedren’s Melanie Daniels waited for rescue. But here, Myra understands that nobody is coming to save her.
Tom Spezialy, whose credits include The Leftovers and Watchmen, is writing the adaptation. David Heyman, the producer behind the Harry Potter films, will executive produce through his Heyday banner alongside Snook and Jennifer Gabler Rawlings.
Sue Gibbs, Head of Development at Heyday Television, addressed the creative direction during a panel at SXSW London in June 2025. “We’re going back to the source material, the Daphne du Maurier novella and using that as inspiration,” she said. “And at its heart, it’s looking at when nature turns on you. Obviously, with climate change that is very timely (via Deadline).”
The road to this adaptation has been long, and as of now, The Birds’ release date has not been announced.
Originally reported by Devanshi Basu on ComingSoon.
