‘The Horror of Dolores Roach’ Starring Justina Machado Greenlit at Prime Video

'The Horror of Dolores Roach,' Amazon Prime Video, Justina Machado
Benjo Arwas/Amazon Studios

Get excited horror fans! Announced today, Amazon Studios has greenlit the upcoming series The Horror of Dolores Roach, based on the popular Gimlet Spotify podcast of the same name. One Day at a Time’s Justina Machado will star in the spooky titular role.

“The eight-episode, half-hour series—based on the hit Gimlet podcast series of the same name—is a contemporary Sweeney Todd-inspired tale of eat or be eaten; a macabre urban legend of love, betrayal, weed, gentrification, cannibalism, and survival of the fittest,” states the show’s description.

Podcast writer and director Aaron Mark joins the series as a co-showrunner and executive producer with Dara Resnik. The series comes from Blumhouse Television, Spotify’s Gimlet, and GloNation. Alejandro Hernandez, Kita Updike, and K. Todd Freeman will also star.

“Dolores Roach is released from prison after 16 years and returns to a severely gentrified Washington Heights with $200 and the clothes on her back. Her boyfriend missing, her family long gone, Dolores reunites with an old stoner buddy, Luis, who gives her room and board and lets her give massages for cash in the basement under his dilapidated storefront, Empanada Loca, the only remnant of her former life,” reads the plot description.

“When the promise of her newfound stability is quickly threatened, ‘Magic Hands Dolores’ is driven to shocking extremes to survive, and in the face of unexpected professional success, Dolores and Luis become dangerously symbiotic, and Luis must unleash his own peculiar predilections.”

Mark shared his excitement over bringing the podcast to the small screen, stating, “After eight years living with the indomitable Dolores Roach in multiple forms, I could not be more thrilled to be bringing her to life on television with this powerhouse team.”

The podcast was originally written by Mark as the one-woman play Empanada Loca, starring Daphne Rubin-Vega, who later reprised her role in the podcast. Rubin-Vega will executive produce with Gloria Calderón Kellett, Jason Blum, Chris McCumber, Jeremy Gold, Dawn Ostroff, Mimi O’Donnell, Justin McGoldrick, and pilot director Roxann Dawson.

The Horror of Dolores Roach, Series Premiere, TBA, Prime Video