How ‘The Alienist’ Finally Found a Screen

In “The Alienist,” the 1994 best-selling historical thriller by Caleb Carr, a group of unlikely sleuths kept a running tally of a serial killer’s known traits, the better to get inside his head to stop him.

If one were to itemize the distinguishing characteristics of the novel itself, the list might include gruesomely macabre, intellectually ambitious and historically vivid. Not to mention totally unfilmable.

A heady thrill ride with rich characters and an atmospheric Gilded Age New York setting, “The Alienist” begged for a Hollywood adaptation, and movie rights were sold for half a million dollars before the book was even published. But the intricate mystery proved too dense to distill into a satisfying film, though that didn’t stop producers from trying.

“It’s been 25 years of battling against really bad interpretations of this book,” Mr. Carr said.

But on Jan. 22, “The Alienist” finally comes to screens on TNT, because of a fortuitous convergence of factors: a resurrected television studio looking to mine its rights library; a cable channel angling for more prestige; and an emerging program format — the limited series — that accommodates both ambitious, season-long narratives and actors who wouldn’t sign on for television’s usual multiyear commitments.
The 10-episode season will present, from start to finish, the book’s story of Dr. Laszlo Kreizler, a brilliant, prickly psychiatrist — or alienist, in the parlance of the day — and his team of cohorts tracking a killer who preys on boy prostitutes in the vice-ridden city. The German actor Daniel Brühl (“Rush”) stars as the titular doctor, with Dakota Fanning (“American Pastoral”) and Luke Evans (“Beauty and the Beast”) rounding out the leads.

Mr. Carr said the past film attempts failed because producers like Scott Rudin sought to turn his layered psychological tale into a more conventionally formatted blockbuster, proposing to cut characters, add a love story and otherwise abandon the main focus on the team tracking the murderer.

“If you don’t get what the central dynamic of a book is, you’re not going to be able to make a good movie out of it,” Mr. Carr said. (“I wish him well with the show,” Mr. Rudin emailed in response.)
The 10-episode season will present, from start to finish, the book’s story of Dr. Laszlo Kreizler, a brilliant, prickly psychiatrist — or alienist, in the parlance of the day — and his team of cohorts tracking a killer who preys on boy prostitutes in the vice-ridden city. The German actor Daniel Brühl (“Rush”) stars as the titular doctor, with Dakota Fanning (“American Pastoral”) and Luke Evans (“Beauty and the Beast”) rounding out the leads.

Mr. Carr said the past film attempts failed because producers like Scott Rudin sought to turn his layered psychological tale into a more conventionally formatted blockbuster, proposing to cut characters, add a love story and otherwise abandon the main focus on the team tracking the murderer.

“If you don’t get what the central dynamic of a book is, you’re not going to be able to make a good movie out of it,” Mr. Carr said. (“I wish him well with the show,” Mr. Rudin emailed in response.)
For all his exasperation, Mr. Carr remained eager for an adaptation “that enough resembled the book that I didn’t have to fight that battle anymore,” so he could move forward with the next chapter of the saga. He is now working on the third book in the series, “The Alienist at Armageddon,” slated to arrive in September. (The second, “The Angel of Darkness,” came out in 1997.)
It seemed like a really futile struggle to continue the series when there was no interest in making a decent product out of the first book, much less the second book, much less a future book,” Mr. Carr said.

That pessimism lifted after the television arm of Paramount, which held the movie rights, was revived in 2013. “The Alienist” was “literally the first book I took off the shelf,” said Amy Powell, the studio’s president.

For TNT, still best known for procedurals and ampersands — “Rizzoli & Isles,” “Franklin & Bash,” “Law & Order” reruns — “The Alienist” heralds a new focus on shows “that engage people more, that have a stronger, deeper pull on them,” said Sarah Aubrey, TNT’s executive vice president for original programming.

In the past few years, the network has forged a new path under the president Kevin Reilly, with more provocative series like “Animal Kingdom” and “Claws.” But “The Alienist” represents its biggest swing yet.