TV Adaptation of ‘Underworld’ Movie Franchise Is In The Works
In this weeks edition of ‘Hollywood is out of original ideas’, we have a tv remake of the ‘Underworld’ movie franchise in development.
The film series, with starred Kate Beckinsale as the Lycan Death Dealer Selene, is based around a secret war which has waged for centuries between vampires and werewolves (aka ‘Lycans’). Beckinsale’s character is determined to wipe out her furry foes in revenge for them killing her parents 600 years ago.
Len Wiseman, who is the man behind the film franchise, is developing it for tv, although he says the series will have a different feel. “The series will be a pretty big departure from the films,” he comments. “I don’t want to say it’s more adult, but it’s definitely less comic book in its tone and character.” The show will be pitched to cable and streaming services, which gives you some idea of the tone they are going for.
Along with the ‘Underworld’ franchise, Wiseman also directed the movies ‘Total Recall (2012 version)’ and ‘Live Free or Die Hard’, and has had a successful run directing tv pilots including ‘Hawaii Five-0’, ‘Sleepy Hollow’, and the brilliant ‘Lucifer’. He’s also set to direct the next film in the ‘Die Hard’ franchise, in a story which is split between present-day John McClane, again played by Bruce Willis, and 70’s NYC beat cop McClane, who has yet to be cast.
Whilst I joke about Hollywood’s current penchant for adapting successful movie franchises, I can see the appeal of turning ‘Underworld’ into a tv series. Vampires and werewolves have always done well on the small screen, but, with the exception of Netflix’s ‘Hemlock Grove’, I don’t think anyone has really stepped outside of the PG network tv version of those entities, so this could be something quite different.
The ‘Underworld’ tv series is currently only in development, so we’ll let you know when we have more.
