‘Brave New World’ TV Series Coming To USA Network
Aldous Huxley’s 1932 classic novelBrave New Worldhas been adapted into TV movies twice before, but now the dystopian story is becoming a full-blown series on the USA Network.
Despite the project initially being developedback in 2015over at Syfy, USA has now given theBrave New WorldTV show a straight-to-series order. Universal Content Productions will co-produce the series with Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment. Read on to learn more about who’s involved in the new show.
Varietybrought the news about USA scooping up the sci-fi show.David Wiener(Fear the Walking Dead, Homecoming) will serve as the showrunner, while comic mainstayGrant Morrisonwill be a writer and executive produce.Brian Taylor, one half of the directing duo Neveldine/Taylor and the filmmaker behind the Nicolas Cage movieMom and Dad, will executive produce the first episode and serve as a consultant on the show. (Taylor and Morrison previously collaborated on the Syfy showHappy!)
Variety has a detailed synopsis of Huxley’s novel:
“Brave New World” imagines a utopian society that has achieved peace and stability through the prohibition of monogamy, privacy, money, family, and history itself. As citizens of New London, Bernard Marx and Lenina Crowne have only ever known a rigid social order, a perfect pharmaceutical called Soma, and a culture of instant gratification and ubiquitous sex. Curious to explore life beyond the strictures of their society, the two New Worlders embark on a vacation to the Savage Lands, where they become embroiled in a harrowing and violent rebellion. Bernard and Lenina are rescued by John the Savage, who escapes with them back to New London. John’s arrival in the New World soon threatens to disrupt its utopian harmony, leaving Bernard and Lenina to grapple with the repercussions. The three become entwined in a fraught relationship that awakens them to the dangers of their own conditioning.
Owen Harris, perhaps best known for directing theBlack Mirrorepisodes “San Junipero” and “Be Right Back,” is on board to direct the pilot and serve as an executive producer. “San Junipero” is widely considered to be one of the series' high points, but I’m also very fond of “Be Right Back,” which starred Hayley Atwell and Domhnall Gleeson and was a deeply sad exploration of the effects of grief.
Ridley Scott spent years chasing the rights to this story and seemed poised toadapt the novel into a moviearound 2008 with Leonardo DiCaprio attached to produce and potentially star, but that version never materialized. Here’s hoping a full TV series will prove to be the right format for this adaptation.
