The upcoming Hostel show is bringing together a long-awaited Hollywood pairing. The horror franchise began in 2005 with Eli Roth’s gory horror movie of the same name. After it grossed $82 million against its $4.8 million budget, the movie earned a 2007 sequel, which was also helmed by Roth. However, the franchise petered out relatively quickly, only earning one more installment, which was a direct-to-video sequel helmed by From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money director Scott Spiegel that went direct-to-DVD in 2011.

In early June 2024, The Hollywood Reporter reported that a Hostel television show was in development that would be a “reinvention” of the Eli Roth horror movie. The producing team, which includes Roth, describes the project as “elevated,” a factor that is being underscored by the casting of two-time Oscar nominee Paul Giamatti in an undisclosed major role. In addition to providing Giamatti with one of his first new projects after winning a Golden Globe for his performance in 2023’s The Holdovers, this casting makes good on a team-up that has been in the works for nearly two decades.

Paul Giamatti Was Supposed To Appear In The First Hostel

Giamatti Had An Unusual Encounter With Eli Roth

This casting announcement has brought Giamatti’s relationship to the controversial Hostel full circle, as he was originally meant to have a cameo in the horror movie. During a 2013 interview with Entertainment Weekly while he was promoting John Dies at the End, Giamatti revealed that he and Eli Roth met in Prague when the director was shooting the project and the star was in production on The Illusionist. During their conversation, they discussed Giamatti potentially playing a minor role in Hostel.

The Hostel role, in which Giamatti would have cameoed as a character committing one of the movie’s grisly murders, never came to fruition. However, out of that conversation, Roth became the connection that eventually linked Giamatti to director Don Coscarelli, which is how he got his role in John Dies at the End half a decade later. Now, more than a full decade after the release of that movie, Giamatti is back in Roth’s orbit with this new television project, which will bring him back to the small screen after his post-Holdovers role in HBO Europe’s 30 Monedas.

It’s Not Known Who Giamatti Will Play In The Hostel TV Show (But He’d Be A Great Villain)

Giamatti Is An Actor With Several Iconic Villains On His Resume

It is currently unknown what character Giamatti will be playing in Hostel. However, it would be ideal if the show cast him as a villain. In addition to playing iconic villains in movies including 2002’s Big Fat Liar, 2007’s Shoot ‘Em Up, and 2014’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Giamatti’s recent The Holdovers role could be the perfect lead-in into playing a villainous character in the horror show. While his character in the movie was more cantankerous than villainous, he oozed the kind of upper-class disdain that would be perfect for embodying the wealthy clientele of the franchise’s titular torture chamber.

Source: THR & EW