AMC Networks greenlights the series adaptation of Down By The River

Longtime journalist Chris Bowden's non-fiction book Down By The River, following the drug trade, has been picked for a series order by AMC Networks in collaboration with producer Scott Stuber.

Set in the high society of Dallas, this nonfiction work is both a family saga and a disturbing exposé of the drug war along the Mexican border. Its narrative follows a family that was led into this world after a murder and ended up almost destroyed as a consequence.

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Charles Bowden's Down By The River green-lit by AMC Networks for series order

According to reports from Deadline, AMC Networks is partnering with producer Scott Stuber (Frankenstein, Deliver Me from Nowhere) and writer-director Peter Landesman to bring Bowden's Down By The River to life.

Director Landesman worked as an investigative journalist for The New York Times Magazine and The New Yorker at the start of his career and reported on sensitive topics such as human trafficking and global conflicts, so none are better than him to bring Bowden's vision for his non-fiction novel to the screen.

After Lionel Bruno Jordan's murder in January of 1995, his murder, even though inconsequential, keeps being the link between a multimillion-dollar industry, the corrupt governments of the United States and Mexico, and a fraudulent self-styled War on Drugs.

This family drama is a conspiracy thriller and a crime procedural and follows the DEA Dallas chief, Phil Jordan, as he investigates his brother's murder and ends up in the midst of something very big, widespread, and dangerous. Surrounded by oil, politics, money, and religion, he almost destroys the entire family on his quest for closure and revenge after his brother's death.

Set in high-society Dallas, Phil finds himself going back to the streets, back across the border, discovering an alter ego that everyone around him had forgotten even existed in his quest to solve his brother's murder.

The book's synopsis reads:

Down by the River is the true narrative of how a murder led one American family into this world and how it all but destroyed them. It is the story of how one Mexican drug leader outfought and outthought the U.S. government, of how major financial institutions were fattened on the drug industry, and how the governments of the U.S. and Mexico buried everything that happened. All this happens down by the river, where the public fictions finally end and the facts read like fiction. This is a remarkable American story about drugs, money, murder, and family.

Being a longtime journalist, Down By The River is actually considered one of Bowden's greatest exposés and is known to have extremely piercing and strong language. Especially, this novel is a heartbreaking account of governments turning their backs on citizens, such as the family of DEA Agent Phil Jordan. Apart from the above-mentioned non-fiction novel, Bowden is also responsible for books such as Blood Orchid, Desierto, Frog Mountain Blues, and Trust Me.

As a director, Landesman has previously directed projects such as Parkland and Concussion. He has also written projects such as Kill the Messenger and The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.

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