Alexander Payne Exits Olivia Colman HBO, Sky Drama ‘Landscapers’

Alexander Payne will no longer direct or executive produce “Landscapers,” the Olivia Colman drama in the works at HBO and Sky.

News of his departure from the project comes less than two months after Rose McGowan accused the director of raping her when she was 15 years old.

Will Sharpe, who starred in the BBC and Netflix series “Giri/Haji” last year, will replace Payne in the director’s chair.

Inspired by real events, “Landscapers” explores the lives of convicted killers Susan (Colman) and Christopher Edwards and asks how this devoted and mild-mannered couple came to kill Susan’s parents and bury them in the back garden of their Mansfield home in the U.K. Their crime remained undiscovered for over a decade.

The series is being produced by Sister and South of the River Pictures, Colman and her husband Ed Sinclair’s recently launched production banner. HBO and Sky previously partnered with Sister to produce “Chernobyl.”

More to come…