As David Cronenberg preps “The Shrouds,” he continues to shop around the TV adaptation of his 2015 novel “Consumed.” But now it looks like another Cronenberg-related project will hit TV before that, although the director isn’t directly involved.
The Hollywood Reporter reports that HBO plans to give Cronenberg’s 1981 film “Scanners” the series treatment. William Bridge, who won an Emmy for his work on the “USS Callister” episode of “Black Mirror,” will serve as showrunner and writer on the update. Meanwhile, Yann Demange, who directed the pilot of the excellent but short-lived HBO series “Lovecraft Country,” will direct the series. Both will executive produce.
“Scanners” follow a secret war between two factions of people with a range of psychic and telekinetic abilities. One side, led by the power-hungry Revok, aims for world domination, while a private security group recruits other scanners to stop him for other secretive reasons. The series takes a slightly different track. Instead of Revok’s war, it will follow two outcast women tracked down by scanner agents who must learn to work together to topple a conspiracy determined to destroy them. So, a similar paranoiac tale but on a different parameter than the original movie.
Cronenberg will only be involved in the HBO series as executive producer. Joining him are Michael Ellenberg, Lindsay Springer of Media Res Studio, and Meredith Duff and Sarah Sullivan of Wayward Films. Additional executive producers include René and Fanny-Laure Malo, Pierre David, Clark Peterson, and Aaron Gilbert.
“Scanners” is a labor of love for Media Res. They’ve been working on the series for over five years. That’s very promising, as Media Res’s last show, Apple TV+‘s “Pachinko,” is one of the most highly regarded shows by critics this year. Other recent Media Rest projects include “The Morning Show,” now shooting its third season, HBO’s “Scenes From A Marriage,” and the climate change anthology “Extrapolations.”
As for Demange, his other work as a director includes his debut “’71” and “White Boy Rick” with Matthew McConaughey. Bridges has more experience in the sci-fi genre. He wrote two episodes of “Black Mirror,” Jordan Peele‘s version of “The Twilight Zone,” and a Season 3 episode of “Stranger Things.” He also co-created AMC‘s sci-fi anthology “Soulmates” with “Ted Lasso” scribe Brett Goldstein.
So, HBO’s version of “Scanners” sounds like an altogether different beast than Cronenberg’s, but as far as this writer is concerned, any new projects related to Cronenberg are great news. Let’s hope to hear more news on this series very soon.
