‘I’ll Be Gone in the Dark’ docuseries gets the greenlight from HBO

HBO announced in a press release that HBO Documentary Films are now producing a series based on the bestselling true crime book I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer by the late journalist Michelle McNamara. HBO had first acquired the book rights in April.

This news comes after Sacramento Sheriff’s Office arrested former police officer Joseph James DeAngelo at his house in a nearby suburb on April 24, 2018, using DNA evidence (and McNamara’s research) to link the notorious serial killer and charge him with a number of crimes.

I’ll Be Gone in the Dark was published earlier this year in February. The book debuted at #1 on the New York Times combined print and e-book bestseller list. McNamara had died during investigating, but the book was finished by her lead researcher Paul Haynes and close colleague Billy Jenkins.

HBO also announced that Liz Garbus (The Fourth Estate) will be directing the documentary about McNamara’s determination to find the psychopath she dubbed The Golden State Killer. He committed 50 home-invasion sexual assaults and ten murders in California in the late 70s and early 80s.

Garbus is an Academy Award nominee and Emmy winner. Her HBO works include Nothing Left Unsaid: Gloria Vanderbilt & Anderson Cooper, There’s Something Wrong with Aunt Diane, and What Happened, Miss Simone?