Christina Ricci and Hamish Linklater cast in crime series Chop Shop

Here's an exciting series that should catch the attention of networks. Christina Ricci (pictured below, left), recently nominated for a Golden Globe for Yellowjackets, and Midnight Mass actor Hamish Linklater (pictured below, right) will lead the true-crime series Chop Shop, set in the funeral industry in the San Fernando Valley of the 80's.



Inspired by Kathy Braidhill's book of the same name, the series tells the chilling and twisted story of the Lamb Funeral Home in Los Angeles in the 1980s. When David Sconce—the Machiavellian scion of a Bible college football coach and a church organist—takes the reins of the family business, the ostensible All-American family begins a baffling descent from saints to sinners.

Desperate to keep their funeral home afloat, Sconce devises a sinister new business strategy, replete with human body harvesting and mass cremation. The script will paint a searing portrait of hubris versus the neon greed of the era, where insatiable ambition turns a former football hero into a sociopath from SoCal.

Linklater plays David Sconce and Ricci plays a journalist inspired by Braidhill. Andy Bellin writes.

Producers are Ricci, Laura Rister and Untitled Entertainment with the team currently vetting potential directors and showrunners to complete the package.

Wednesday actress Ricci is currently in production on the third season of Showtime's hit series Yellowjackets, for which she has received Emmy and Golden Globe nominations. Linklater is in production on the second season of Amazon's The Boys spin-off Gen V and can be seen as Abraham Lincoln in Apple TV+'s Manhunt (2024).

Bellin is best known for the films Lovelace, starring Amanda Seyfried and Peter Sarsgaard, and Trust, starring Clive Owen and Catherine Keener. Other active projects include The Baccarat Machine at SK Global starring Awkwafina, Think Aaron at HBO Films and an untitled thriller with Jared Leto at h.wood Media.

Producers Laura Rister and Untitled’s Michael Rosenberg said of the project: “Upon reading Braidhill’s book Chop Shop, we were fascinated to discover this shocking Los Angeles story that truly is stranger than fiction. Christina and Hamish naturally gravitate to complex, brave material and roles. We feel so fortunate to capture their combined magic in one show. We also look forward to collaborating again with Andy Bellin, who shares a deep curiosity for intricate human stories.”