Amazon Working On 3 New Sci-fi Dramas – ‘Ringworld’, ‘Lazarus’ & ‘Snow Crash’
Amazon has put 3 new sci-fi adaptations in development the company has announced – ‘Ringworld’ based on the Larry Niven award-winning classic, ‘Lazarus’ based on Greg Rucka’s acclaimed comic book, and ‘Snow Crash’ based on Neal Stephenson’s cult novel.
‘Ringworld’ will be a co-production with MGM and is based on the classic sci-fi novel series from Larry Niven. The story follows Louis Gridley Wu, a man who is 200 years young (thanks to a longevity drug.) Bored with life on Earth, he joins a voyage to investigate a “Ringworld” which has been discovered beyond the edge of known space.
What’s really exciting with ‘Ringworld’ is the depth of material they have to play with. Niven has written 4 books directly in the series, but there is also a host of other works to draw from, all set in his “Known Space” universe. These include the ‘Man-Kzin Wars’ anthologies, the ‘The Tales of Known Space’ short stories, and ‘Fleet of Worlds’ prequel series written with Edward M. Lerner. With such a rich “history” to draw from, this could be a sci-fi show of epic proportions.
‘Lazarus’ comes from Greg Rucka, comic book legend and writer on Netflix’s ‘Jessica Jones’ and Fox’s ‘Gotham’. Based on his comic book, the story is set in a dystopian near-future where the planet is divided between 16 rival families who run their territories under a feudal system of law. Resources are scarce, so to crush unrest and hostilities, each family has a chosen warrior known as a Lazarus – a one man, or in this case, woman, kill squad. Forever is Lazarus for the Carlyle family, defending them from any would be attackers by deception and force. But when an attack goes wrong, Forever is left questioning everything she knows.
Rucka is set to write and exec produce the series along with Michael Lark (‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’, ‘Lego Marvel’s Avengers’) and Angela Cheng Caplan.
‘Snow Crash’ is based on Neal Stephenson’s cult novel and tells the story of Hiro Protagonist, hacker and pizza delivery driver for the mob. However, in the VR MMO world of the Metaverse, he’s a warrior prince and the best swordfighter in the universe. When ‘Snow Crash’, a new cyber-drug, appears in the virtual world, things start to go a little screwy… It seems not only is this new drug actually a computer virus, but it also infects the person behind the avatar, allowing it to bleed into reality…
The show is a co-production with Paramount Television and will be exec produced by Joe Cornish (‘Ant-Man’, ‘Attack the Block’), and legendary Hollywood producer Frank Marshall (‘Back to the Future’, ‘Indiana Jones’ movies, ‘Jurassic World’ and many others!)
Assuming all 3 of these titles make it to series, we should see them in the 2018/2019 season.
