Iain M. Banks ‘Culture’ Novels Being Developed For TV By Amazon
Amazon has announced they are developing acclaimed author Iain M. Banks’ ‘Culture’ series of novels into a tv show, beginning with the first book ‘Consider Phlebas’.
Described as “a kinetic, action-packed adventure on a huge canvas”, ‘Consider Phlebas’ draws upon the extraordinary world and mythology Banks created in the Culture, in which a highly advanced and progressive society ends up at war with the Idirans, a deeply religious, warlike race intent on dominating the entire galaxy.
The story centres on Horza, a rogue agent tasked by the Idirans with the impossible mission of recovering a missing Culture ‘Mind,’ an artificial intelligence many thousands of times smarter than any human – something that could hold the key to wiping out the Culture altogether. What unfolds, with Banks’ trademark irreverent humour, ultimately asks the poignant question of how we can use technology to preserve our humanity, not surrender it.
What’s even more exciting is Dennis Kelly, the man behind Channel 4’s wonderfully strange ‘Utopia’ is adapting the novels for Amazon. “Iain Banks has long been a hero of mine, and his innate warmth, humour and humanism shines through these novels,” commented Kelly. “Far from being the dystopian nightmares that we are used to, Banks creates a kind of flawed paradise, a society truly worth fighting for – rather than a warning from the future, his books are a beckoning.”
Plan B Entertainment (‘World War Z’, ’12 Years a Slave’, ‘The Big Short’, ‘Moonlight’, ‘Feud’) slated to produce and the Estate of Iain Banks attached as Executive Producer. “We revere the work of Iain Banks and continue to be moved by his inimitable spirit and his commitment to imagining a better future even in the darkest of times,” said Plan B. “Consider Phlebas, simultaneously explores the deepest questions concerning humanity and our future. We are so grateful to the Estate of Iain Banks for the opportunity to bring his work to life, and to Amazon for the scope of their ambition to building Iain’s prescient world.”
No news on when the series is likely to drop onto Amazon, although I wouldn’t expect it until at least 2019. This acquisition fits into Amazon’s new drive to focus on big, epic tv shows, which also includes a ‘Lord Of The Rings’ tv series. We’ll let you know when we hear more.
