Amazon MGM Studios has officially given a series order to ‘RoboCop’, a new television adaptation of the classic sci-fi franchise, with Peter Ocko serving as writer, executive producer and showrunner, and James Wan executive producing through Blumhouse Atomic Monster.
The series returns to familiar territory, as a giant tech conglomerate convinces a city to place a powerful robot on its police force. However, this particular machine has been implanted with the consciousness of a beloved officer killed in the line of duty.
So, expect corporate power, privatised policing, humanity versus technology and, presumably, quite a few people discovering that allowing a massive corporation to control law enforcement might not have been the cleverest idea.
The original 1987 film, directed by Paul Verhoeven and starring Peter Weller (The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai), became a sci-fi classic thanks to its blend of gloriously violent action and biting satire. It was followed by two sequels, a 2014 remake, several animated and live-action television adaptations, comics and video games.
Peter Ocko, whose previous credits include Lodge 49, Black Sails and The Office, was originally brought aboard the television project in 2024. Alongside serving as showrunner, he will write and executive produce the series.
James Wan, Michael Clear and Rob Hackett executive produce through Blumhouse Atomic Monster, with Danielle Bozzone overseeing the project for the company. Ed Neumeier and Michael Miner, who co-wrote the original film, will also serve as executive producers.
“I’ve been a massive fan of Robocop forever, so getting to help bring this world to television is a dream,” said Wan. “What Paul Verhoeven created in 1987 was decades ahead of its time, and its questions about technology, identity, and who corporations really serve have only grown more urgent. With Peter’s distinctive vision and bold approach to storytelling, and alongside Ed and our partners at Amazon MGM Studios, we’re working to honor what made the original iconic and highlight its relevancy in this modern, tech-driven world, while building something unmistakably new for a global audience.”
Of course, there is a rather large Stargate-shaped elephant standing in the middle of Amazon MGM’s collection of revived franchises.
Amazon acquired the rights to both RoboCop and ‘Stargate’ when it purchased MGM in 2022, with both properties identified among the studio’s first wave of potential television revivals.
However, while ‘RoboCop’ has now made it through development and received a series order, Amazon recently pulled the plug on Martin Gero’s planned ‘Stargate’ revival. That project had already received a series order, completed a 20-week writers’ room and entered pre-production in the UK before the studio decided not to move forward.
The cancelled series had also involved several people with deep connections to the franchise, including Gero, Brad Wright and Joe Mallozzi, and had been designed as both a jumping-on point for newcomers and a continuation that respected the existing canon.
Unsurprisingly, the decision did not go down especially well with ‘Stargate’ fans. Following the announcement of the ‘RoboCop’ order, Michael Shanks (Stargate SG-1, Saving Hope), who played Daniel Jackson in the television franchise, summed up his response on social media with: “Un-f*cking-believeable”.
To be fair, the two projects were developed separately, and ‘RoboCop’ has been working its way through Amazon MGM’s system for several years. This is not necessarily a case of the studio directly choosing one franchise instead of the other.
Still, the timing and optics are not exactly wonderful. Amazon scrapped a series which appeared to have the backing of the original fanbase, experienced franchise creatives and a substantial amount of development already completed, then announced a different MGM revival built around another familiar 1980s and 1990s property.
Whether the new ‘RoboCop’ can capture the original film’s mix of action, dark humour and social satire remains to be seen. The themes certainly remain relevant, particularly as artificial intelligence, robotics, corporate surveillance and the outsourcing of public services continue to dominate real-world conversations.
Amazon MGM’s Head of Global Television, Peter Friedlander, described the franchise as “a sharp, provocative mirror of our relationship with technology and power”, adding that Ocko’s version will honour the original while building something fresh for modern audiences.
No casting or production date has been announced for the series.
‘RoboCop’ will premiere exclusively on Prime Video. A premiere date has not yet been announced.
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