Amazon Greenlights ‘The Horror of Dolores Roach’

Amazon has ordered eight half-hour episodes of the new series “The Horror of Dolores Roach” from Blumhouse Television, Spotify’s Gimlet, and GloNation Studios, with Justina Machado (“One Day at a Time”) in the title role. Based on the hit Gimlet podcast series of the same name, “The Horror of Dolores Roach” is described as a contemporary “Sweeney Todd”-inspired tale of eat or be eaten; a macabre urban legend of love, betrayal, weed, gentrification, cannibalism, and survival of the fittest.

The logline: Dolores Roach is released from prison after 16 years and returns to a severely gentrified Washington Heights with $200 and the clothes on her back. Her boyfriend missing, her family long gone, Dolores reunites with an old stoner buddy, Luis, who gives her room and board and lets her give massages for cash in the basement under his dilapidated storefront, Empanada Loca, the only remnant of her former life. When the promise of her newfound stability is quickly threatened, “Magic Hands Dolores” is driven to shocking extremes to survive, and in the face of unexpected professional success, Dolores and Luis become dangerously symbiotic, and Luis must unleash his own peculiar predilections.

Aaron Mark, who wrote and directed the original podcast, and Dara Resnik will serve as co-showrunners and executive produce the series, alongside Gloria Calderón Kellett and Roxann Dawson, who directed the pilot. The cast also includes Alejandro Hernandez, Kita Updike, and K. Todd Freeman.