IM Global Television, the TV arm of feature-film financing, production and sales company IM Global, a subsidiary of Indian conglomerate Reliance ADA, has acquired rights to cult 1999 movie The Boondock Saints for a TV series adaptation. Troy Duffy, writer-director of the original film and its sequel, 2009’s The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, will write the potential series — envisioned as a prequel to the movies — and will direct the first episode. He also will executive produce along with two of the films’ producers — Don Carmody of Don Carmody Television and Lloyd Segan of Piller-Segan — and D. Matt Geller, who brought the project to IM Global.

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Original stars Norman Reedus and Sean Patrick Flanery are in early talks to come on board as co-executive producers.

Duffy has written a first episode and a bible for the project, which traces the origins of the vigilante brothers Connor and Murphy MacManus as Irish immigrants in South Boston. A search is underway for a showrunner to join the drama, which will be taken out, eyeing a straight-to-series order.

“For years I’ve been obsessed with telling a real origin story with Boondock, and IM Global TV has stepped up,” Duffy said. “Television is the perfect medium to explore these controversial characters on a much deeper level and to bring Boondock Saints to a whole new audience.”

The Boondock Saints has showed staying power. Following a limited U.S. release, the original film became a DVD bestseller via word-of-mouth (watch a trailer below). The movie franchise, which had long been eyeing a third installment, has garnered more than $260 million in worldwide theatrical and DVD sales and has a robust social media presence, with its stars and director counting more than 7 million total followers.

“Since its initial release more than 15 years ago, The Boondock Saints has become a true cultural phenomenon,” said IM Global TV president Mark Stern. “Troy is a consummate storyteller with a compelling vision for a series; the minute we heard it, we were hooked.”

The deal for a Boondock Saints series comes on the heels of IM Global TV, launched less than a year ago by co-founders Stuart Ford and Stern, unveiling its first development slate, which includes two literary adaptations, Kurt Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle and Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Darkover; crime drama Den Of Thieves starring Carla Gugino and produced by Kevin Spacey; real-time horror drama Horrorshow; and a miniseries about the 1906 San Francisco earthquake produced by Martin Campbell.

The Boondock Saints deal was brokered by Stern and general counsel Deborah Zipser on behalf of IM Global TV, Bob Gettman at Jackoway Tyreman and Jordan Bayer at Original Artists for Duffy; Shep Rosenman at Katz Golden Rosenman for Piller-Segan and Don Carmody TV; and Jordan Bayer at Original Artists with Bob Abramoff at Burgee & Abramoff for D. Matt Geller.

Here’s the theatrical trailer: