Hostel TV Show's Surprising Star Almost Joined The Horror Franchise 20 Years Ago
"And when Alexander saw the breadth of his domain, he wept," as the saying goes, "for there were no more horror movies to bring back as a modern revival." Hmm, that's not exactly right, but you're picking up what I'm laying down here. Horror continues to be an industry mainstay and, when it works, it's been a pillar of consistent box office profits and viewership ratings. So, in that light, it's no surprise that Hollywood would dig into its bag of tricks and come up with yet another relatively popular IP to revive all over again for old fans and newcomers alike. In this case, the revival series in question also comes with quite an interesting little factoid that could've led to famous character actor Paul Giamatti joining the "Hostel" franchise almost 20 years ago.
Instead, the Oscar-nominated star of "The Holdovers" will be making his first appearance in the franchise as part of a new TV series that's currently in the works, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Giamatti has officially come on board the production as the new star, though the report notes that it is merely "in development" and doesn't actually have a distributor as of yet. But that's not stopping anyone from confidently describing the series with awfully overused phrases such as "modern adaptation," "elevated thriller," or that it's a "reinvention" of the material. The first "Hostel" film came out back in 2006 from filmmaker Eli Roth (most recently known for 2023's horror hit "Thanksgiving") and ultimately led to two schlocky sequels, of course, the last of which was released straight to DVD.
Original creatives Roth, Chris Briggs, and Mike Fleiss are all returning for the show. Roth is set to direct from a script written by Roth and Briggs, while Fleiss will serve as executive producer alongside the trio.
Paul Giamatti almost appeared in the original Hostel
The film and television gods sure do have a sense of humor, don't they? While the THR report doesn't indicate exactly what character that Paul Giamatti will be playing in this "Hostel" revival series, it does mention that it will be a "key role" for a series that, frankly, has quite a bit of room for reinterpretation from a more modern perspective. Funny enough, however, Giamatti almost found himself getting his hands bloody in the original "Hostel" film in 2005, which centered on a trio of horny college kids trekking through Europe who find themselves caught in a series of gory predicaments upon entering the wrong Slovakian establishment. Incredibly, THR dug up an old Entertainment Weekly interview where Giamatti noted that he first ran into Eli Roth during production of the first "Hostel" film. As he explained at the time:
"Eli was shooting 'Hostel' in Prague and I was shooting 'The Illusionist' and I met him. We talked about me actually killing somebody in that movie but it never panned out."
Almost two decades later, the two artists are making this reunion happen with what should be a much meatier role this time around. There's no word on when this series will actually come to fruition or, if/when it does, which platform it will actually end up on. But with Roth's success on "Thanksgiving" (which has since led to confirmation of a planned sequel), there's a good chance that this revisit to the world of "Hostel" will pan out sometime soon. Stay tuned to /Film for more updates.