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NYT bestseller ‘Robopocalypse’ is getting a TV series with Oscar winners Ron Howard and Akiva Goldsman at the helm
Well, this should be a nice distraction from the real AI apocalypse.
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They say all good things come to those who wait… and WAIT. Well, the wait for "Robopocalypse" fans might finally be over, as Oscar winners Ron Howard and Akiva Goldsman have announced they're working on a TV adaptation.
It does seem like an eternity since news first broke that Portland-based New York Times bestselling author Daniel H. Wilson’s "Robopocalypse" (Doubleday, 2011) was bought by Steven Spielberg’s DreamWorks SKG for a sci-fi spectacle, with Drew Goddard ("The Martian") brought in to pen the screenplay.
That was back in 2009, and since then the story of a rogue AI named Archos and a hearty band of indigenous people in America’s heartland battling to save humanity from extinction has been placed on Hollywood’s back burner. After numerous stalled starts and director Michael Bay getting involved in 2018, "Robopocalypse" was quietly powered down due to script issues, filmmaker scheduling conflicts, and the enormous budget required.
But now we have been blessed with the news, first broken by The Hollywood Reporter, that Ron Howard ("Apollo 13," "The Da Vinci Code") and Akiva Goldsman ("A Beautiful Mind," "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds") have taken up the mantle of this chilling sci-fi project to develop as a new TV series. And what timing, just as AI fever has gripped the planet with paranoia centered around our eventual robot overlords.
"'Robopocalypse' has all the scale and suspense of a major action story, but what drew me to it are the thought-provoking themes and humanity at its center," Ron Howard shared in a statement.
The cover of 2011's smash sci-fi hit Robopocalypse by Daniel H. Wilson
The cover of the 2014 sequel Robogenesis by Daniel H. Wilson
"Daniel created a future that feels both startling and increasingly plausible, with characters who must figure out what connects us when the technology we rely on turns against us. I am also thrilled to work with Akiva again. We have shared some incredibly meaningful creative experiences, and this feels like the right story to bring us back together."