The Walking Dead’s Norman Reedus Is Making an Edward Gorey-Inspired Show About Neglected Murderesses – Gizmodo

Norman Reedus as Daryl on The Walking Dead.Photo: Gene Page/AMC

And I dont just mean murderesses who have been neglected by history. I mean Neglected Murderess, the series of illustrations by Edward Gorey of The Gashleycrumb Tinies fame, about...well, murderesses who have been neglected by history.

Although the source material is appropriately macabre for the actor, this is a weird choice for The Walking Deads Norman Reedus to try to turn into a TV series. For starters, Neglected Murderess isnt a storyits a collection of separate portraits of unrelated women who had murdered someone or another, along with brief captions of their crime. Here are a few examples:

Mrs. Daisy Sallow eviscerated her daughter-in-law with a No. 7 hook, afterwards crocheting, over the course of three evenings, her shroud in a snowflake pattern (1921).

Miss Q. P. Urkheimer brained her fianc after failing to pick up an easy spare at Glovers Lanes, Poxville, Kansas, 1936.

Miss Emily Toastwater smothered her father after evening prayers, London S.W.7 (1916).

Natasha Batti-Loupstein pulverized a paste necklace and sprinkled it over a tray of canaps, Villa Libellule, Nice, 1923.

Thats not much to work with, and the real draw of Neglected Murderesspun not intended, I promiseis Goreys inimitable illustrations, which were published in a single volume in 1980 alongside his collection Dancing Cats. Neglected Murderesses is one of Goreys lesser-known works and hasnt been reprinted since, but you can see a few of its images here.

G/O Media may get a commission

Variety describes Reedus show as a black comedy that tells the story of 12 enterprising, fictitious female killers, who use particularly unique methods to off their victims. Among them are: Nurse J. Rosebeetle, who tilted her employer out of a wheelchair and over a cliff at Sludgemouth in 1898, Mrs. Fledaway, who laced her husbands tea with atropine in the spring of 1903, and Miss Q. P. Urkheimer, who brained her fianc after failing to pick up an easy spare at Glovers Lanes.

I have to imagine Reedus Neglected Murderesses, which will likely premiere on AMC, will be an episodic anthology series la Black Mirror and presumably not animated, although if youve seen Goreys classic intro to PBSs Masterpiece Mystery series you know that would be a treat.

If the show gets picked up, it will be the first-ever live-action adaptation of the illustrators work, and all profits would be donated to a number of animal welfare organizations, given Goreys fondness for animals. But even if the shows a hit, I sincerely doubt a live-adaptation of the alphabet of murdered children that is The Gashleycrumb Tinies will follow.

For more, make sure youre following us on our Instagram @io9dotcom.

Link:
The Walking Dead's Norman Reedus Is Making an Edward Gorey-Inspired Show About Neglected Murderesses - Gizmodo

Reviewed and Recommended by Erik Baquero