Netflix’s new limited series is based on a novel of the same name by Daria Polatin “Devil In Ohio”. Polatin’s novel is based on true events. The novel tells the story of Mae who escapes a satanic cult. Daria Polatin is the showrunner of the upcoming show. It is not Polatin’s first project with Netflix, the writer also worked on Castle Rock (2018).
Polatin wrote the real incident as a TV pilot first but then decided to write a book instead. The writer revealed in an interview with Book Room Reviews that a novel seemed like an “exciting way” to write the story;
I was interested in writing about what happens to people when they’ve been in isolated communities, and wrote a TV pilot about a cult. Then when I heard the true story of a teenage girl who escaped from a satanic cult and moved in with her psychiatrist’s family, I had to tell it. A novel seemed like an exciting way to write that story, and the true events became the inspiration for Mae, Jules and the Mathis family. Devil in Ohio explores the timeless struggle between good and evil, and the strength it takes to overcome the adversity of your past.
It is Daria Polatin’s first ever published novel.
Devil In Ohio Release Date
According to Production Weekly, Devil In Ohio is in post-production. The filming of the limited series started in September 2021 and ended in December 2021. However, Netflix has not announced a release date for the show. The series is expected to hit the streaming platform by the end of 2022.
Plot
The plot of the Devil In Ohio will follow the plot of the book. Daria Polatinalso directed the upcoming limited series so there will be a lot of similarities between the novel and the series. The synopsis of the book is;
When fifteen-year-old Jules Mathis comes home from school to find a strange girl sitting in her kitchen, her psychiatrist mother reveals that Mae is one of her patients at the hospital and will be staying with their family for a few days. But soon Mae is wearing Jules’s clothes, sleeping in her bedroom, edging her out of her position on the school paper, and flirting with Jules’s crush. And Mae has no intention of leaving.
Then things get weird. Jules walks in on a half-dressed Mae, startled to see: a pentagram carved into Mae’s back. Jules pieces together clues and discovers that Mae is a survivor of the strange cult that’s embedded in a nearby town. And the cult will stop at nothing to get Mae back.
Daria claims that the novel is based on a real incident but she did not reveal anything about the real-life incident. However, she admitted that she has used her imagination capabilities to “fill in the blanks”.
The book is based on a true story, the background of which I will keep under wraps, but a lot of what happens in the book actually occurred. I took artistic license in order to fill in the blanks and flesh the story out in a way that worked for a book.
There will be a total of eight episodes. Each episode of the show will be of 45 minutes. The show is directed by John Fawcett, Brad Anderson, Leslie Hope, and Steve Adelson.
Cast
Emily Deschanel is playing the role of Dr. Suzanne Mathis a hospital psychiatrist. Deschanel is famous for her multiple roles in both films and series. She appeared in Spiderman 2, My sisters’ keeper, Boogeyman, and also played a lead role in Fox’s Bones. Other cast members include Sam Jaeger, Gerardo Celasco, Madeleine Arthur, Xaria Dotson, Alisha Newton, and Naomi Tan.
Aliza Fatima is a writer/author at The Panther Tech.