The science fiction and horror genre is a lucrative one on film, while a $68 million worldwide gross for a major tentpole would be deemed a failure, for a project like the 2010 supernatural thriller “Legion,” it’s a hit. Produced for a budget of $26 million, the film must have exceeded studio expectations and broke even in terms of marketing costs as well, as it looks like “Legion” is now a fully fledged property in its studio's eyes.
Deadline has word that the film’s director/co-writer Scott Stewart is set to helm and serve as executive producer of a TV adaptation, written by “Sons of Anarchy” scribe Vaun Wilmott. All of the film’s creative team is back, Bold Films along with Sony Pictures TV — an another arm of the massive Sony conglomerate which includes the Screen Gems division that distributed the film — will be overseeing this venture as well. The film starred Paul Bettany as the Archangel Michael, who helps an assortment of human beings held up at a roadside diner caught amidst the war between humanity and God’s angels that are racing towards earth to help usher in the Apocalypse. Stewart is set to helm the pilot episode for the Syfy series.
Perhaps nobody was asking for a continuation of the film on the silver screen, so they chose instead to resurrect it for television. The film was eerily reminiscent of “The Terminator” franchise in its fight-to-save-the-world-from-the-apocalypse storyline, and was particularly silly in its execution of the supernatural elements of the story. It’ll surely be a challenge for the team to stretch this out to a series, with the only hope for this project lying in the hiring of 'Anarchy' scribe Wilmott for the project. While we’d like to remain optimistic regarding an original genre project, we’re sure we aren’t alone in sighing when we heard, “They’re making a television series out of ‘Legion?’ ” Though when we read it would be a Syfy series, it felt like a good fit. And hey, Bettany just dropped out of Showtime's "Masters of Sex," so maybe someone can give him a ring.