Syfy is really pulling out the stops to try and recover from its ever shrinking science fiction line up. Brave New World is the latest high profile scripted project to be developed and produced by Syfy; others include the recently-announced series pickup of The Magicians, based on Lev Grossman’s best-selling books; the 10-part series The Expanse, airing December 2015 and starring Thomas Jane; Arthur C. Clarke’s epic mini-series Childhood’s End, also set to premiere this December; Gale Anne Hurd’s 13-episode thriller Hunters; David Goyer’s Superman prequel, Krypton; and Incorporated, a pilot from Matt Damon and Ben Affleck.
As you may remember, Amblin is the studio responsible for shows like TNT’s Falling Skies, and the upcoming series The Whispers (ABC), Under The Dome and Extant. Oh and of course lets not forget that Steven Spielberg is involved.
(Press Release) NEW YORK – May 5, 2015 – Adding to its growing roster of major productions featuring science fiction’s most acclaimed franchises, Syfy is reuniting with Emmy® Award-winning Amblin Television to develop a scripted series based on Aldous Huxley’s classic novel Brave New World.
Syfy and Amblin previously collaborated on Steven Spielberg Presents: Taken, which won a 2003 Emmy® for Best Miniseries, as well as nominations in six other categories.
Brave New World is set in a world without poverty, war or disease. In this world, humans are given mind-altering drugs, free sex and rampant consumerism are the order of the day, and people no longer reproduce but are genetically engineered in “hatcheries.” Those who won’t conform are forced onto “reservations” – until one of these “savages” challenges the system, threatening the entire social order. First published in 1932, Brave New World was ranked fifth among the 100 best English language novels of the 20th Century by Modern Library.
Said Dave Howe, President, Syfy & Chiller: “Brave New World is one of the most influential genre classics of all time. Its provocative vision of a future gone awry remains as powerful and as timeless as ever. Promising to be a monumental television event, Brave New World is precisely the groundbreaking programming that is becoming the hallmark of Syfy.”
Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey of Amblin Television (The Americans, Falling Skies, Under the Dome) will be executive producers. Les Bohem (Steven Spielberg Presents:Taken) will write the screenplay and also executive produce.
Universal Cable Productions will serve as the studio.
“We’ve been looking for an opportunity to reunite with Les, Bonnie Hammer and Dave Howe, ever since our collaboration on Taken over a decade ago, and Brave New World is just the project we’ve been waiting for, to bring the band back together,” said Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey, Co-Presidents, Amblin Television. “We’re thrilled to be working with Dawn Olmstead, with whom we produced The Whispers for ABC, and under the leadership of Jeff Wachtel and Universal Cable Productions, we know the project is in just the right hands.”
“Brave New World is science fiction at its best – a brilliant, poignant story that continues to fascinate and illuminate,” said Jeff Wachtel, President and Chief Content Officer, NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. “And there is simply no better team than Amblin to bring this exquisite project to life.”
About Amblin Television
Amblin Television currently produces six series, airing on four different networks – “The Whispers,” premiering this summer on ABC; “Under the Dome” and “Extant,” returning for third and second seasons, respectively, on CBS this summer; “The Americans” on FX, which was recently renewed for a fourth season; and “Falling Skies,” which will be back for a fifth and final season this summer on TNT, along with the upcoming new TNT drama from Ed Burns, “Public Morals.”
