The Final Girl Support Group: Charlize Theron & the Muschiettis bringing slasher survivor therapy to HBO Max

A lot books have to gain some popularity before getting plucked for a TV series, but in the case of Grady Hendrix, his new horror novel The Final Girl Support Group was optioned before it even got released. The book, which debuted on July 13, was optioned for an adaptation in November and is now being supported by some serious star power: Charlize Theron as well as siblings Barbara and Andy Muschietti. 

Theron's production company Denver & Delilah Films, and the Muschiettis' Double Dream will help bring the book to HBO Max. All three will executive produce the series, and Andy, who directed the two-part adaptation of Stephen King's It and is currently directing The Flash, will helm the series' pilot. 

Double Dream was formed by the Muschiettis in April, with one of their future productions being an adaptation of Attack on Titan, the hit manga that ended its 12-year run in April and will be directed by Andy. Meanwhile, Denver & Delilah have produced much of Theron's recent output over the last several years, including Atomic Blonde and last year's surprise hit, The Old Guard. No word yet on if Theron will star as any of the titular Final Girls, as she tends to headline what she produces, though not exclusively.

As the title implies, the book is about six middle-aged women who've all survived mass murder scenarios in their youth that inspired slasher films that dominated the '80s and '90s. In becoming celebrities, they've also bonded over their shared trauma in group therapy, and must come together again when they realize they're getting picked off one by one. Via in-world supplementary material, the specifics of what each Final Girl experienced as a teen is provided in the book to give some emotional context as to what they went through. 

This isn't the only work of Hendrix's to be adapted, as several of his books are making the jump to big or small screen. His 2020 novel The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires is becoming a series for Amazon, and the 2014 horror novel, appropriately named Horrorstör, is coming to the big screen. My Best Friend's Exorcism, another of his novels, shot its film adaptation in Georgia this past April.