ABC Developing 'The Undertaker' Police Procedural
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- ABC is developing 'The Undertaker,' a police procedural based on the Swiss series 'Der Bestatter' created by Hartmut Block, which ran for seven seasons on Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen in Switzerland.
- The Undertaker will follow Luke Conrad, a former police detective who takes over his family's funeral home business and investigates deaths that come through the door, with 20th Television and Elevate Entertainment producing.
- Gabriel Garza is set to write and executive produce; his credits include running the writers' room on The CW's The Flash for more than 100 episodes and writing for The Winchesters prequel.
- Hanelle M. Culpepper will direct and executive produce; she earned an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Directing for the Season 2 finale of Hulu's Paradise and is attached to direct Apple TV+'s upcoming Neuromancer adaptation.
- Executive producers also include Alex Cole and Joe Wiggins of Elevate Entertainment and Michael Wenning, with One Gate Media holding rights to the original Der Bestatter format.
Why it matters: ABC is adapting a seven-season Swiss procedural for U.S. audiences, pairing a veteran genre writer with an Emmy-nominated director whose recent credits span Hulu's Paradise and Apple TV+'s Neuromancer — giving the network a prestige-leaning concept with established-format backing before a pilot decision.
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