Echoverse taps Minnie Driver to star in scripted audio supernatural series The Lesser Dead

Echoverse, a podcast studio focusing on science fiction, supernatural, and fantasy audio experiences, today announced production of its new supernatural audio series The Lesser Dead and set Academy Award nominee Minnie Driver (Good Will Hunting and The Riches) as the star and Executive Producer. The Lesser Dead will be available in Spring 2022 on Apple, Spotify, and wherever podcasts are found.

Award-winning author Christopher Buehlman (The Blacktongue Thief, Those Across The River, Between Two Fires) adapts his darkly-comedic novel. Set in wild-and-wooly 1978 New York City, The Lesser Dead embeds you with a colony of vampires led by the formidable Margaret McMannis (Minnie Driver) and is narrated by one of her clan, Joey Peacock, an irreverent, eternally-young 19-year-old who quite literally never grew up. When a dangerous new adversary enters their world, Margaret and Joey’s unconventional family of vampires must come together before it’s too late. Buehlman will executive produce the audio drama along with Driver and CITY FILMS ENT. INC.’s Joshua D. Maurer and Alixandre Witlin (Howards End, The Hoax, The Last Tycoon). The series will be produced by SALT Audio (Black Out, Carrier).

“We couldn’t be more excited to bring Chris’ compelling and unique story to life with Minnie and this first-rate production team. In fact, I can’t think of a more appropriate project to serve as Echoverse’s very first production,” said Mark Stern, President of Echoverse.

About Minnie Driver:

Best known for her breakout role in the 1997 film Good Will Hunting (which earned her nominations for both the Academy Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award), Driver has also appeared in numerous TV programs, including The Riches, for which she was nominated for an Emmy and a Golden Globe.

Driver will next be seen in Searchlight Pictures’ biopic Chevalier and 20th Century’s Rosaline. She most recently appeared in the latest adaptation of Cinderella on Amazon, in Modern Love, and has appeared as a recurring character in Will and Grace, which was recently rebooted, and in Speechless.

Driver’s memoir, Managing Expectations, will be published in hardcover, audio and eBook in May 2022 and the second season of her iHeart original podcast, Minnie Questions with Minnie Driver, is available now with a new episode every week.Driver is also an accomplished singer and songwriter having released three studio albums.

About Echoverse:

Launched in May 2020 with Lloyd Braun’s company Whalerock Industries, Echoverse is a next-generation podcast studio that brings together top-tier talent from all disciplines to create premium science-fiction, supernatural and fantasy audio dramas that excel on their own merits while also serving as underlying IP content for film, television and other 360 applications. It has more than two dozen scripted and unscripted projects in-the-works with talent that includes Mike Mignola, Paul Feig, Neal Baer, and Amber Benson. Mark Stern, former president of original content at Syfy, serves as president.

About Whalerock Industries:

Whalerock Industries is a West Hollywood-based production and consulting company founded by Lloyd Braun. Whalerock Studios produces highly acclaimed and popular unscripted series, including BattleBots (Discovery), Hyperdrive (Netflix), Savage Builds (Discovery), and Ravi Patel’s Pursuit of Happiness (HBO Max). The company’s award-winning team of producers, digital product developers and marketers has created and operated multiple #1 direct-to-consumer apps and web properties with the world’s most influential celebrities and brands. As a consulting firm, Whalerock draws on this experience to help other companies to innovate and grow their businesses by thinking like an entertainment company. Whalerock consultants create and execute transformative digital, content, and marketing strategies that deliver clear and measurable business results by turning customers into fans.

About SALT:

SALT is an audio media company creating exceptional experiences with the world’s leading talent, studios, and brands. Through award-winning and genre defining work, SALT has become the one-stop partner for outstanding audio storytelling that fans return to for years to come. Founded by partners Jamie Schefman, Noah Gersh, and Nick Panama, SALT successes include Dave Chappelle’s The Midnight Miracle (Luminary), Blackout (QCODE), Carrier (QCODE), The Last Degree of Kevin Bacon (Spotify), Hit Job (Broadway Video), Dr. Death: Miracle Man (Wondery), and many more.