May is positioning herself as a rising creative force who found her calling in horror after navigating Hollywood's tough terrain. Her journey from actress to bestselling comic writer represents artistic empowerment and reinvention — exactly the kind of success story the industry loves to celebrate.
Insiders note May's trajectory from comedy guest spots on Ballers and Ghosts to horror maven is more calculated than she lets on. The Exorcism at 1600 Penn bestseller status? That book's White House setting was practically built for viral buzz. And the Blumhouse-Atomic Monster adaptation deal suggests her IP is being positioned for major screen play.
Exorcism at 1600 Penn became a bestseller upon its 2024 release, with a feature film currently in development at Blumhouse-Atomic Monster. Fatal Fest debuts later this year as a five-issue mini-series from IDW Dark, with artist Andrea Scalmazzi handling visuals.
May knows exactly what she's doing — using horror as a mirror for Hollywood's hunger to consume. Whether you see satire or self-serving IP building, one thing's certain: her star is rising fast in the genre space.
When Hannah Rose May packed her bags and moved from Ireland to Los Angeles in the late 2010s, someone probably told her that's what it takes to make it as an actress. What they didn't mention? Hollywood has teeth — and it's not shy about using them.
May found work acting in comedies like Ballers and Ghosts, but it was during the COVID-19 pandemic downturn that she made her real move. "I was left with my own thoughts," she recalls. "It was either I download TikTok or save my sanity and do something I had always wanted but had been afraid." That something became writing comics — a pivot from performer to creator that Hollywood's power dynamics may have accelerated more than she lets on.
As an actress, she experienced firsthand the finicky nature of being at producers' disposal, which made creating her own IP suddenly irresistible. Her first title, Rogues Gallery (Image Comics, 2022), examined toxic fandom — a topic ripe for discourse in genre circles. But it was Exorcism at 1600 Penn, a supernatural thriller set in the White House, that became an unexpected bestseller upon its 2024 release.
The book's success proved to May she was on the right creative path — and apparently convinced Blumhouse-Atomic Monster too, as a feature film adaptation is currently in development there. She's also written Harley Quinn for DC and Smile: For the Camera, a comic based on Parker Finn's Smile horror movies currently on stands. Now May returns with Fatal Fest, her new five-issue mini-series from IDW Dark dropping later this year (artist Andrea Scalmazzi handles the visuals).
The premise is deliciously brutal: six emerging horror filmmakers are invited to compete at a mysterious festival run by reclusive horror maestro Frank Finch and his production empire, Fatal Films. The catch? To create true fear, you must experience it — meaning these filmmakers need to be willing to kill to win.
May describes the book as "Saw and Squid Game twisted together in a Hollywood setting," which tracks given her stated themes. "A common denominator in my work is people trying to survive systems trying to consume them," she says. "Hollywood is one of those systems that consumes a lot of people." The horror producer character, Finch, isn't based on any single real person — though May notes if anyone should worry about the comparison, it would be Wes Craven rather than Jason Blum.
IDW senior group editor Heather Antos offered praise that's essentially a blurb factory: "Hannah and Andrea have created a world that feels equal parts Hollywood Horror satire, psychological thriller and pure nightmare fuel." More details will drop at San Diego Comic Con in July, where May is scheduled for panels on actors turned comic writers — because apparently that's a whole panel now. The irony isn't lost on anyone watching May's career arc: she's an actress who once navigated Hollywood's consumption machine, now writing stories about systems that devour people.
Whether Fatal Fest represents genuine artistic catharsis or smart IP building (or both) remains to be seen. But with her Exorcism book already headed to the big screen and her comics catalog expanding rapidly, May has positioned herself as a genre force to be reckoned with. And if she plays her cards right, Hollywood might finally be the one doing the consuming — of her stories.
