Canal Plus Books Appointment With Joann Sfar’s ‘Monsters’ Shrink’ Vampire Series

Director and graphic artist Joann Sfar is embarking on his first English-language live-action drama with Monsters’ Shrink. Canal Plus has ordered the eight-part series that’s loosely based on Sfar’s book L’Eternel. Canal’s RED Production Company will work with Sfar on the project about Rebecka, a New York psychoanalyst who discovers her husband has been found dead at their South of France villa.

Determined to discover the real story of his demise, Rebecka heads to Antibes and is confronted graveside by Ionas, a vicious and intellectual Eastern European Vampire — who is also a surprisingly good handyman — and is desperate to change. Ionas convinces the wary and scared Rebecka to give him therapy sessions, after she realizes he might be connected to her husband’s death. In order to access their knowledge and information, Rebecka agrees not just to analyze Ionas but to become a shrink for all monsters, discovering an entire underworld hidden in the dirty streets, shops and houses of France.

Sfar’s credits include features The Prophet, The Rabbi’s Cat and Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life. The latter won three Cesars in 2011.

His comic books include Donjon, The Little Vampire and The Rabbi’s Cat which became an animated film, winning the Cesar for best Animation.

Monsters’ Shrink goes into production early 2018. Happy Valley‘s RED Production Company is producing for Canal Plus with Jemma Rodgers and Nicola Shindler exec producing.