Denis Villeneuve Is No Longer Directing Jake Gyllenhaal’s HBO Miniseries ‘The Son’

Denis Villeneuve revealed in a recent interview that he’s no longer involved with “The Son,” the in-development HBO miniseries based on the novel of the same name by Norwegian author Jo Nesbo, which is set to star Jake Gyllenhaal.

Villeneuve was supposed to direct the series, with Lenore Zion serving as showrunner. Villeneuve revealed his departure while speaking to the Norwegian outlet Verdens Gang (“News of the World”) while promoting “Dune: Part Two.”

Asked about the project, Villeneuve said, “No, it’s, it’s a project that I absolutely love. And I love the book. I love that writer, very strong writer. And the thing is that, I brought this project to do a miniseries, because I thought that to bring it, to try to protect all the elements of the book, it was too much for a feature film. But I did feel that the adaptation we’ve made — which, I think the screenplays were excellent, but far away from my sensibility.”

Villeneuve and Gyllenhaal were first attached to the project all the way back in 2016, initially announced as a feature film adaptation.

There hasn’t been much news about “The Son” since it was first announced as an HBO series in 2020, and like Villeneuve, Gyllenhaal has kept a busy schedule since then. Of course, since 2020, HBO’s parent company Warner Bros. has gone through a series of major changes — most notably the 2022 merger that created Warner Bros. Discovery, and the tenure of WBD CEO David Zaslav, under whom a large number of in-development and completed projects have been abruptly canceled.

Representatives for HBO didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from TheWrap. Villeneuve, for his part, told Verdens Gang, “I hope this will find the light of the day. I think, I hope it will happen, but directed by someone else.”

Described as an Oslo-set revenge story amid rampant and brutal corruption, the series is being executive produced by Riva Marker of Gyllenhaal’s Nine Stories and Kilter Films’ Athena Wickham. Bold Films’ David Litvak, Gary Michael Walters, Michel Litvak and Svetlana Metkina also serve as executive producers with Jo Nesbø and Niclas Salomonsson. Nine Stories Productions, Kilter Films and Bold Films are set to produce in association with Warner Bros. Television.

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