ABC Buys ‘Possessed’ Supernatural Drama From ‘The Conjuring’ Writers, Paul Wesley & Kapital Entertainment

EXCLUSIVE: ABC has put into development Possessed, a supernatural crime drama based on a Korean format. The project hails from The Conjuring writers Carey and Chad Hayes, The Vampire Diaries alum Paul Wesley, The Masked Singer executive producer Craig Plestis and Aaron Kaplan’s Kapital Entertainment, where Wesley and his company Citizen Media is under a producing deal.

Written by the Hayes brothers, Possessed centers around a young woman, who after a near death experience, becomes a vessel for the dead to avenge their wrongful deaths.

Carey and Chad Hayes executive produce with Kapital Entertainment’s Kaplan and Dana Honor, Wesley, Plestis and MBC (Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation), the South Korean network which aired the original series and also originated the format for the hit Fox series The Masked Singer.

The original Possessed aired a 10-episode first season on MBC in 2009. Starring Lim Ju-eun and Lee Seo-jin, the series centered on a high school girl possessed by spirits and the criminal profiler who exploits her powers in his quest for justice. You can watch a trailer below.

The Hayes brothers are best known for writing New Line Cinema’s global box office horror hits The Conjuring and The Conjuring 2. They also co-produced the horror film Annabelle.

Possessed was one of the first projects Wesley’s Citizen Media and Kapital put in development under the production partnership forged in February. Wesley, who stars in Kapital’s CBS All Access series Tell Me a Story, is repped by ICM Partners, Management 360, and attorney Marcy Morris.

Paradigm and attorney Paul Miloknay repped MBC Broadcast in the packaging of the format. Plestis is also repped by Paradigm.