Deadline is reporting that Robert Eggers, the writer/director behind the recent horror hit The Witch, has been tapped to write and direct a miniseries about Grigori Rasputin, the Russian mystic adviser to Tsar Nicholas II who was famous for sleeping with all of the women in Russia and for having magic powers. The miniseries will last “six to eight episodes” and will follow Rasputin’s “origins in Siberia,” his “rise to power,” and of course his “bloody death in St. Petersburg.” The story of Rasputin’s death will probably have to be stretched across more than one episode, though, as he supposedly survived being stabbed, poisoned, and shot multiple times in one night before he actually drowned to death when his assassins threw his body in a river. Of course, the evidence suggests that the ridiculous stories surrounding his death are totally fake, but the idea of him having magic powers is cooler than historical accuracy anyway
Also, it’s worth noting that a movie about Rasputin has been in the works for a few years, with Leonardo DiCaprio the first choice to play the “mad monk” himself. Since this project is still so early, it’s unclear how it might be impacted by the movie (if at all).