Jake Gyllenhaal is heading to the small screen and developing a programme centred on cults and their leaders.

The Brokeback Mountain star is working with bosses at the A&E network on an anthology series which will focus on one cult persona each season, with the first installment putting a spotlight on Jim Jones.

The season will detail Jones' journey to becoming a dangerous leader of the Peoples Temple cult from the 1950s to the 1970s, and how he spearheaded the 1978 mass murder-suicide of 918 of the cult's members in Jonestown, Guyana.

"Jim Jones is a fascinating character - one who has found his way into the collective unconscious," Gyllenhaal said in a statement. "We want to focus on the undeniable magnetism of zealots and the danger of that kind of charisma. A notion not only pertinent to cult leaders but to the geo-political climate of today."

Gyllenhaal will executive produce the project with Beasts of No Nation producer Riva Marker.