After veering frequently into darker territory on his HBO comedy Barry, Bill Hader’s next project at the outlet will be anything but funny.

Hader and Daniel Zelman (Damages, Bloodline) are developing a drama about Jonestown, the site of the infamous 1978 massacre of more than 900 members of the Peoples Temple led by Jim Jones. Hader is also set to direct and could star in the project as well, should it go forward.

The project will tell “the story of Reverend Jim Jones and his people,” per its logline. Hader and Zelman are writing and executive producing.

Jonestown has been the subject of numerous books documentaries in the years since the November 1978 massacre, where more than 900 Peoples Temple members died in Guyana after drinking poisoned Flavor Aid. Jones himself died of a gunshot wound that was likely self-inflicted. The events were also depicted in a 1980 miniseries that starred Powers Boothe as Jones,...