An adaptation of author Gillian Flynn’s debut novel Sharp Objects has been in the works for some time, but it wasn’t until last spring that the project was finally cracked—as a TV series, not a movie. Indeed, the property was somewhat hot coming off of David Fincher’s hit Gone Girl adaptation, but it wasn’t until UnREAL co-creator and veteran writer of shows like Mad Men and Buffy the Vampire Slayer Marti Noxon suggested a TV series adaptation that the project really took off.

Sharp Objects is currently set up at HBO as an upcoming TV series starring Amy Adams, and we now have a definitive start-date for production as well as a bit of background on the project. The story revolves around a reporter fresh off a stay at a psych hospital who must return to her tiny hometown for her latest assignment: covering the murder of two preteen girls. The woman must wrestle her own demons and reconcile her past in order to solve the story of these murders.

Wild and Dallas Buyers Club filmmaker Jean-Marc Vallée is directing the HBO series, and when Collider’s own Christina Radish recently spoke with the filmmaker about his HBO limited series Big Little Lies, he shared how Sharp Objects came about:

“It was supposed to be a movie first, but Marti Noxon is the guilty one. She’s the one that went to eOne because eOne had the rights, and then they went to HBO. She went to Gillian, eOne and HBO and said, ‘This is a TV series. This is not a film. Here’s why.’ She had a plan and a vision, and here we are, shooting eight episodes. We’re starting very soon. I committed to that before Big Little Lies. I was working with Amy Adams on the Janis [Joplin] project that we’re finally not doing, and she invited me to play in her new sandbox, doing a TV series. And then, Reese [Witherspoon] came and said, ‘I want you to come do this first, since that’s not ready.’ I said to Reese, ‘Okay, I’ll do Episodes 1 and 2 because I won’t have time [to do more]. I have to do Sharp Objects.’ And then, here we are.”

Vallée went on to say that filming for Sharp Objects begins on March 6th, so while Adams is currently on the awards circuit for her stunning turn in Arrival, she’s due to start shooting the flashy TV series in just over a month’s time. HBO hasn’t yet revealed a premiere date for the show, but it will likely be sometime in 2018.

You may also notice there that Vallée seems to confirm that his long-in-the-works Janis Joplin biopic is officially dead. The project was previously set up with Adams to star before it was halted by lawsuits involving the production companies. As recently as last fall it seemed like it still might be happening, but as Vallée and Adams are moving on to Sharp Objects, that one may be dead after all.

Look for our full interview with Vallée on Big Little Lies on Collider soon.