Back in July 2025, we reported that Eli Roth’s Hostel franchise was heading to the small screen, with Oscar-nominated actor Paul Giamatti attached to star in a television series. The project had found a home at Peacock, with Roth set to write, produce, and direct, alongside co-writer and executive producer Chris Briggs. Unfortunately, it looks like this particular trip to the Hostel has been canceled.
Our friends at Bloody Disgusting brought the disappointing update to our attention, pointing to an interview with Roth conducted by Edward Douglas. The interview was uploaded to YouTube on August 4, 2026, but its news about the Hostel series has gone under the radar until now.
Speaking with Douglas, Roth confirmed that Peacock had passed on the project.
“Peacock said no. They’re not gonna do it. We were surprised and that’s their decision.”
There is a little good news for fans hoping to see Roth return to the world of Hostel:
“Chris Briggs and I wrote the scripts and we love them, and I definitely want to turn them into something. So it might not be a TV series, but I still want to continue Hostel.”
Paul Giamatti Was Attached to Star in the Hostel Series
The Hostel television project was first reported in 2024, with Giamatti attached to lead the show. The series was coming together through Fifth Season, the studio behind Severance, and was intended to reinvent the franchise as an “elevated thriller.”
Roth and Briggs were writing the project, with Roth also expected to direct. Mike Fleiss was among the executive producers.
Giamatti’s involvement was particularly interesting because he had nearly appeared in the original Hostel. Back in 2013, he told Entertainment Weekly that he and Roth had discussed a cameo while they were both working in Prague. Giamatti was shooting The Illusionist at the time, while Roth was making Hostel, and the actor recalled that they talked about him playing someone who killed a character. The cameo never happened, but the planned series seemed to offer the two a chance to finally work together on the franchise. That opportunity is now gone, at least in its original form.
Eli Roth Still Wants to Bring Hostel Back
The first Hostel arrived in 2005, introducing audiences to the Elite Hunting Club, a secretive organization that caters to wealthy clients willing to pay for the opportunity to torture and murder kidnapped victims. The story followed tourists who find themselves caught in the club’s horrifying business, turning a European backpacking trip into a nightmare.
Roth wrote, directed, and produced the original film, then returned for Hostel: Part II in 2007. A third movie, Hostel: Part III, followed in 2011, moving the action to Las Vegas and placing the franchise in the hands of director Scott Spiegel.
Now that Peacock has passed on the television series, it’s unclear what form a new Hostel project might take. Roth’s comments suggest that he hasn’t abandoned the scripts he and Briggs wrote, but he hasn’t announced a new home for them or confirmed that any other Hostel projects are in development.
So, while the planned series starring Paul Giamatti is dead, the Hostel franchise may not be finished after all. Would you still like to see Eli Roth return to Hostel? Let us know in the comments.
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