Image: Screengrab from 2007 The Mist feature film

We learned in mid-April that the TV series adaptation of Stephen King’s The Mist—previously a 2007 feature film—was surging forth at Spike TV. Now comes news that a director for the first episode has just been hired, and he’s an odd but maybe ideal choice: Adam Bernstein, who won an Emmy in 2007 for 30 Rock.


Bernstein’s resume may not contain any horror titles, but he’s certainly worked in TV for a long time. As Deadline notes:

Bernstein directed the pilots for Fargo, 30 Rock, and Scrubs. Other credits include Better Call Saul, Breaking Bad, Californication, Shameless, Bored to Death, Oz, Homicide: Life on the Street, and Entourage.


That’s a damn fine track record, and a lot of what he’s worked with—comedy, thrillers—depends on an excellent sense of timing to effectively translate the material from script to screen. And then there are these fun facts, also courtesy of Deadline:

Bernstein also directed several music videos including “Love Shack” for the B-52s, “Hey Ladies” for the Beastie Boys, and “Baby Got Back” for Sir Mix-A-Lot. In addition, he helmed The Adventures of Pete and Pete for Spike’s sister-channel, Nickelodeon.

This guy is nothing if not versatile, in other words. (Also, that photo that’s up with the Deadline article, lifted from the director’s imdb page, is not Bernstein ... it’s Leon Trotsky.)

In 2014, during an interview about Fargo with The Wrap, he discussed what it’s like being the director for the first episode of a brand-new series:

There is a certain amount of pressure, but for me that’s the fun part. You get to be in on the ground floor of defining what this world going to look like, what the color palette is going to be, how you’re going to shoot it. It’s always really enjoyable to have the larger share of responsibility for designing what the show is going to be.


So far there’s been no cast announced for The Mist, but with Bernstein onboard and a summer filming date (the series will air in 2017), we’ll no doubt be getting some news on that front soon.

