Sarah Snook Takes Flight In The Birds, A Limited Series Reimagining The Hitchcock Classic

Right, here we go again—someone else is having a pop at 'The Birds'. But this time, I've got to admit, there's a half-decent pedigree involved.

Sarah Snook Grabs Lead in New 'The Birds' TV Series

Sarah Snook—yeah, the scene-stealer from 'Succession'—has signed on for the lead in a limited series loosely inspired by Hitchcock's 'The Birds'. If you raised an eyebrow at that, fair enough: the series isn't just recycling the 1963 film. It's actually going back to the original Daphne du Maurier story that Hitchcock 'borrowed' in the first place, and apparently the creatives are adamant about not just remaking the classic movie with shinier visual effects.

What the Series Actually Is

So, here's the setup: Instead of California in the '60s, we're tipped into the present day, and they've shifted the action clear over to Alaska. The main character is Myra Massey (that's Snook), a travelling magistrate who just wants to do a quick hearing about a presumed dead local and get the job done. Only, she walks straight into a murder—her childhood mate found shot to bits. Cue the twist: as she tries to play detective, things in the wild take a literal turn for the deadly, with birds launching coordinated attacks on the humans. So now it's not just sorting out the murder, but fighting off nature as well.

'We’re going back to the source material, the Daphne du Maurier novella, and using that as inspiration. And at its heart, it’s looking at when nature turns on you. Obviously, with climate change that is very timely,' explained Sue Gibbs, Head of Development at Heyday Television.

And, in case you missed the industry shuffling, Tom Spezialy (whose credits include 'The Leftovers') is writing this version, with Universal International Studios and Heyday Television producing. Apparently, they’ve been gnawing away at this idea for over a year already.

Cast and Setting: What's New?

• Lead: Sarah Snook as Myra Massey, a magistrate with an unfortunate knack for stumbling into violent chaos
• Location: Set in an isolated Alaskan town, which ramps up the feeling that you can scream all you want, but no one's coming
• Twist: Both a murder mystery and a survival thriller
• Tone: 'Visceral', with lots of fresh characters rather than just ticking off the Hitchcock film's cast sheet

What’s clear is this isn't just ticking the box of 'classic horror movie gets modern makeover'. Instead, they’re doubling down on ecological dread—which, frankly, feels rather obvious, but still makes a decent hook with today's headlines.

A Bit of History

For anyone somehow unaware, Hitchcock’s 'The Birds' originally landed in cinemas in 1963, launching Tippi Hedren’s film career and featuring Rod Taylor, Jessica Tandy, and Suzanne Pleshette. The OG film was famously set in a sleepy Northern California town, with birds going berserk for reasons never explained. Critics didn’t all love it when it came out, but it’s since become a staple in Hitchcock’s greatest hits—mostly due to how nails the bird attack scenes still are, even by modern standards, and how the film never actually explains the avian hysteria.

There was a made-for-TV sequel in the '90s—'The Birds II: Land's End'—but, honestly, it was dreadful and everyone’s just about erased it from memory.

Now for a bit of trivia: plenty of attempts have been made to remake or sequelize 'The Birds', but none have actually managed to progress past the 'wouldn't it be cool if' stage—until now.