HBO Working On Adaptation Of Michael Crichton’s ‘Sphere’ From ‘Westworld’ Creators & Team Downey
HBO is back in the Michael Crichton adaptation game, as it’s revealed they are working on bringing the acclaimed author’s novel ‘Sphere’ to the small screen with the help of ‘Westworld’s Kilter Films and ‘Perry Mason’s Team Downey.
‘Sphere’ plunges us one thousand feet into the ocean, where a group of scientists confronts the surreal, beautiful, and deadly mysteries of the universe, only to find the people closest to us may prove to be the most alien.
If you’re thinking “I’m sure I’ve seen this somewhere before…” there was a film adaptation in 1998 directed and produced by Barry Levinson, starring Dustin Hoffman, Sharon Stone, and Samuel L. Jackson. However, that version failed to set the box office alight, barely managing to break even on its budget, so hopefully, the tv series will fair much better!
The drama is being written by ‘Westworld’ exec producer & writer Denise Thé, who would also serve as showrunner on the series. Her previous work includes ‘Person of Interest’, ‘Gotham’ and ‘The Sarah Connor Chronicles’. Thé would exec produce, alongside Lisa Joy, Jonathan Nolan and Athena Wickham for Kilter Films, with Robert Downey Jr., Susan Downey and Amanda Burrell for Team Downey. Kilter Films and Team Downey co-produce along with Warner Bros TV.
Nolan & Joy’s Kilter Films are rather busy at the moment! Alongside ‘Westworld’, which was renewed back in April this year for a 4th Season, the company is also producing an adaptation of William Gibson’s ‘The Peripheral’ and have teamed up with Bethesda Game Studios for a tv show based in the world of the ‘Fallout’ video game – the latter two shows falling under their overall deal with Amazon. ‘Sphere’ was apparently in the works prior to Kilter Films signing the Amazon deal in April last year, which is why it has landed on HBO.
Meanwhile, over at Team Downey, they are also pretty busy! In addition to coming off the back of producing Season 1 of ‘Perry Mason’, which HBO recently renewed for a 2nd Season, they are producing comic book adaptation ‘Sweet Tooth’ for Netflix, and have teamed up with ‘Billions’ & ‘The Newsroom’ writer Adam Perlman to produce a detective drama on Apple TV+ based on an article by Michael Lista in Toronto Life titled “The Sting”.
‘Sphere’ is classed as “in development” at the moment, but we’ll let you know if and when we hear more.
