HBO is working on V for Vendetta – and the revolution will be televised

Here we go again: another dystopian Britain, another Guy Fawkes mask, only this time, it’s coming to HBO. Variety reports that a TV adaptation of V for Vendetta is officially in development, with Pete Jackson set to write the series.

The project will see James Gunn and Peter Safran, the creative heads of DC Studios, joining as executive producers alongside Ben Stephenson (via Poison Pen) and Leanne Klein of Wall to Wall Media, part of Warner Bros. Television UK. In other words: this isn’t a small-scale rebellion, it’s a fully armed and operational prestige-TV project.

For the uninitiated (or those who last encountered V for Vendetta via a sixth-form poster), the story began life as a comic serial by Alan Moore and David Lloyd, debuting in 1982’s Warrior magazine before being picked up by DC in 1988. It’s set in a fascist-run future Britain, where a masked anarchist known only as V tries to bring down the authoritarian Norsefire regime, aided by Evey Hammond, a young woman he rescues from the secret police. It’s dark, it’s political, it’s unsettlingly relevant, and it’s been influencing culture, activism and hacker iconography ever since.

Re-revolution

The new HBO adaptation may be the first time the story has been seriously developed for television — but it's not the story's first live action outing. A 2017 Channel 4 version was rumoured but fizzled out, while the 2005 film (penned by the Wachowskis and starring Hugo Weaving and Natalie Portman) became a cult classic. That film is now itself getting a 20th anniversary theatrical re-release in 2026, proving that dystopian revolutions, like fashion, always come back around.

Pete Jackson, whose BAFTA-nominated drama Somewhere Boy showed off his flair for emotional, character-driven storytelling, seems a smart fit for this new take. He’s also behind the upcoming Sky Atlantic series The Death of Bunny Munro starring Matt Smith, which suggests HBO’s Vendetta might lean less toward superhero spectacle and more toward slow-burn psychological drama.

Details are thin for now — no casting, no timeline, no word on whether the Wachowskis’ film aesthetic will influence this version. And there's no sign of legendary creator Alan Moore being involved, who has famously distanced himself from all previous adaptations of his work. But with Gunn and Safran at the helm of DC’s new storytelling era (and HBO still glowing from Watchmen’s success), this could be the bold, socially-charged sci-fi series to define the next few years.

Because if there’s one thing V for Vendetta has always known how to do, it’s hold a mirror up to power, and blow it up in style.

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