Chiwetel Ejiofor Becomes ‘The Man Who Fell To Earth’ For Paramount+

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Oscar-nominated actor Chiwetel Ejiofor is set to star in an adaptation of ‘The Man Who Fell To Earth‘ for Paramount+ (the new name for CBS All Access from March), based on the Walter Tevis novel and the cult classic movie it has been announced.

Ejiofor is set to play a new alien character, who arrives on Earth at a turning point in human evolution and must confront his own past to determine our future. The original Tevis novel was first published in 1963 and has been adapted a couple of times before. The most well-known version is the Nicolas Roeg directed 1976 film starring David Bowie, which is seen as a cult classic. In 1987 there was also a made for tv movie by ABC which saw Lewis Smith taking the title role.

The series is co-written and executive produced by Alex Kurtzman and Jenny Lumet, the duo who have been revitalising ‘Star Trek’ on tv for the past few years with ‘Star Trek: Discovery’, ‘Star Trek: Picard’ and the upcoming ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’. Kurtzman will also direct the project.

“Chiwetel Ejiofor’s stage and film career are staggering in their bravery, commitment and quality,” commented Kurtzman and Lumet. “He’s everything we could imagine and a million things we can’t. We couldn’t be more thrilled.”

British actor Chiwetel Ejiofor CBE first popped up on peoples radar in the Steven Spielberg movie ‘Amistad’ in 1997. He went on to appear in a host of film and tv projects including ‘Love Actually’, ‘Firefly’ movie ‘Serenity’, ‘Children of Men’, and ‘The Martian’, before taking the lead in ’12 Years a Slave’, which landed him both Oscar and Golden Globe nominations. More recently, he has been seen in the MCU playing Karl Mordo in ‘Doctor Strange’, which he will reprise in the upcoming sequel, ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’.

Alongside Kurtzman and Lumet, Rola Bauer, Tim Halkin, Sarah Timberman, Carl Beverly and Heather Kadin serve as exec producers, with Aaron Baiers as co-executive producer. The series will be co-produced by CBS Television Studios and TANDEM Productions, a STUDIOCANAL Company, in association with Secret Hideout and Timberman/Beverly. STUDIOCANAL owns the rights for both Walter Tevis’ book as well as the iconic film.

‘The Man Who Fell To Earth‘ will premiere on Paramount+, although we don’t yet know when. Along with a name change from CBS All Access, the streaming service is set for some limited international expansion, debuting in Latin America on March 4, 2021, the Nordics on March 25, 2021, and Australia in mid-2021. There is not yet any confirmed news on whether the service will come to the UK, but we’ll let you know when we hear something.