American Psycho TV series currently in development at Lionsgate

Lionsgate TV chairman Kevin Beggs has confirmed that a television adaptation of cult classic film American Psycho is currently in development.

The original 1991 Bret Eaton Ellis novel centred on Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale), a wealthy New York City investment banker who hides his alternate psychopathic ego from his co-workers.

Ellis sets up Bateman as an unreliable narrator, opening up the possibility that his killings are only happening in his head. The movie version from Mary Harron took on a darkly comic edge, as it depicted Bale’s Bateman gleefully engaging in murder while mentally unraveling.

The 2000 black comedy slasher film also starred Willem Dafoe, Jared Leto, Josh Lucas, Samantha Mathis, Chloë Sevigny, Justin Theroux, Reg E. Cathey and Reese Witherspoon.

"We’ve just wrapped up Dear White People which was a really good experience, Blindspotting is coming up, American Psycho is in development. We’re always exploring what we can do in television with something like the Saw franchise, so that’s a conversation," Lionsgate TV's Kevin Beggs told Deadline.

Lionsgate reportedly had plans to make a show based on American Psycho at FX as far back as 2013, but it was long ago assumed those plans had been canceled. The show would reportedly have involved an older Bateman grooming an apprentice to carry on his murderous ways.

A straight-to-TV sequel was released in 2002, American Psycho 2, which starred Mila Kunis and William Shatner. The film started life as a completely different project before Lionsgate decided to turn it into a sequel.

Last month, it was reported that Netflix has bought Christian Bale’s upcoming horror thriller The Pale Blue Eye for a record fee at the virtual European Film Market.

Set in 1830, the tale will see Bale star as a veteran detective investigating a murder, before taking on an assistant named Edgar Allen Poe to help him with the case.