After being the subject of a book in 1984 and a television movie in 1990, the 40-year-old story of Texas killer Candy Montgomery will be revisited again for an upcoming limited series with the working title Candy. Elisabeth Moss, who starred in recent films such as Us and The Invisible Man as well as series like The Handmaid’s Tale and Mad Men, has been cast as Montgomery.
Back in the summer of 1980 in the Dallas suburb of Wylie, Montgomery killed her neighbor, Betty Gore, with an ax on Friday the 13th of June. Montgomery was having an affair with Gore’s husband, and she hit the fifth-grade teacher with a three-foot ax 41 times. She was acquitted of murder after pleading self-defense.
In a statement from Universal Content Productions (UCP), the studio developing Candy, Moss said she has “been wanting to play an anti-heroine for a while now” and expects the role to be “like none I’ve ever played.”
Candy will be shopped to major streaming platforms, and UCP has been successful with other true-crime series, including Hulu’s The Act and Dirty John. UCP also has other upcoming series with North Texas connections in development. Dr. Death is based on Christopher Duntsch, the former neurosurgeon who is currently serving a life sentence for gross malpractice after being accused of killing and maiming 33 patients in local hospitals. Also in the works is a series based on the life of Joe Exotic, the subject of Netflix’s Tiger King documentary series, who is serving time in Fort Worth and once owned pet stores in Arlington.
D Magazine founding editor Jim Atkinson and former Dallas Times Herald journalist John Bloom — also known as Joe Bob Briggs — co-wrote the 1984 book about the case, Evidence of Love, and the two will serve as consulting producers for Candy.
