We have some interesting exclusive context to this story, but let’s get on with the basics first. Way back when in 2019, it was reported that David Fincher and Oscar-winning “Chinatown” screenwriting legend Robert Towne were developing a “Chinatown” prequel series for Netflix, given the filmmaker’s exclusive deal there.
And there’s barely been a word about it since (though it was a story we were chasing circa 2021, but plans changed). But in a new Variety piece about the 50th anniversary of “Chinatown,” Towne says all the episodes for the series have been written and are ready to go.
READ MORE: David Fincher & Robert Towne To Develop A ‘Chinatown’ Prequel Series For Netflix
Asked about where the status of the series, Towne said, “All I’m likely to say is yes, all the episodes have been written for Netflix,” Towne said. “Working with a force of nature like David Fincher, [although] occasionally humbling, is never less than enlightening.”
The series would follow the same protagonist as Jack Nicholson’s character, Jake Gittes, but a younger version. According to Towne and Variety, this “Chinatown” iteration explores the relationship between a young Gittes and fellow officer Lou Escobar, played by Puerto Rican actor Perry Lopez in the 1974 film. Variety reminds us that in the 1974 original, Escobar is more fore than friend to Gittes, “but their shared history as police partners patrolling Chinatown, as well as Escobar’s presence during the tragedy that shakes Gittes, are both alluded to throughout the film.”
So, clearly, their backstory seems to be the thrust of this “Chinatown” series and maybe more of a two-hander.
“When David and I first started talking, we agreed we wouldn’t try to replicate Noah Cross,” Towne said about the villain of the original movie, played by John Huston. “But we did want to keep in mind that the crimes that history considers monstrous are those that will not remain in the past but insist on visiting the future, and I think we managed that.”
“Chinatown, with all its implications for an evolving Los Angeles, is central to understanding the evolving Jake Gittes, as is his friendship with and dependence on his partner Lou Escobar,” Towne concluded. “It was enlightening to delve into their backstory, Escobar’s in particular. Small details that are touched on in the film are given life and breadth in a way that surprised even me.”
That’s all Towne says, but that’s quite a few story details. There’s more to the story, however, according to inside sources we’ve spoken with. You remember ‘The Killer” with Michael Fassbender went into production in late 2021 and wouldn’t arrive until 2023. And the reason the scripts are complete is because sources close to the Fincher camp told us “Chinatown” was meant to be his next project after “The Killer.”
He had already cast a star or had the intention of casting one for Jake Gittes: “Ozark” breakout and Emmy-nominated actor Tom Pelphrey, who starred in Fincher’s “Mank,” alongside Gary Oldman, playing his brother Joe Mankiewicz (it’s unclear how official the casting got, but come on, Pelphrey would never give up the opportunity to play the lead in a Fincher project, who would?).
Towne’s work on “Chinatown” was chugging along while Fincher was making “The Killer,” which is, again, why the entire thing is written and ready to go. But Fincher, according to our sources, had a sudden change of heart when the zeitgeist shifted in a specific direction, and he thought he should strike while the iron was hot.
You may have heard the rumors that Fincher was going to make an American, English-language version of “Squid Games” for Netflix, and those rumors are true and actually go back several years. In fact, when “Squid Games” took off and eventually became a worldwide phenomenon in the fall of 2021, it only took a few months for Fincher to realize he should change plans, pivot to a “Squid Games” remake, and put “Chinatown” on the back burner for now (hopefully that’s next, next and the filmmaker doesn’t lose his passion for the project as sometimes happens when timing doesn’t work out).
Netflix won’t comment and never really has, but Fincher has been quietly working on “Squid Games” for the last two years or so and even has a writer working on it: British writer Dennis Kelly. If that name sounds familiar, it should. Kelly was the source material writer of “Utopia.” You’ll remember that circa 2014-2015, Fincher was all set to make a “Utopia” series written by his “Gone Girl” screenwriter Gillian Flynn for HBO with Rooney Mara starring, but it fell apart at the last minute over budget issues (Fincher’s “Videosyncrazy” series, based on his experiences as a director in the world of music videos in the 1980s and 1990s shot five episodes before HBO pulled the plug on it, so it seems, the director fell out hard with HBO and then moved on to Netflix).
Flynn would go on to make her own version of “Utopia” without Fincher at a much lower cost, but that series set up at Amazon did not move the needle at all and was canceled after one season.
So it seems that Fincher went right to the source material for “Utopia” in Kelly to write his “Squid Games” adaptation. Where that’s at, status-wise now, is unclear. Last we heard, Fincher was still “working on” it, but presumably, given the hard pivot away from an already completed “Chinatown,” it’s intended to be his next directing gig. But again, these things are constantly in flux and sometimes plans change (hence having a story written years ago and then having to pause when things shifted). Additionally, Netflix’s Ted Sarandos pooh-poohed the rumors earlier this year, saying, “Since the main series is still ongoing, there’s no justified reason for Netflix to do a remake,” so perhaps that’s another complication or wrinkle of it all (and or studio chiefs just doing their typical misdirect).
Meanwhile, “Squid Games” season two is arriving on Netflix sometime in 2024, presumably later in the fall, given most of the summer TV season is set in stone. More when we have it.