If you’re looking for a science fiction story that stands the test of time, look no further than The War of the Worlds. H.G. Wells’ 1898 novel has already had successful adaptations in the form of a notorious 1938 radio broadcast by Orson Welles, a 1978 musical album by Jeff Wayne, and a 2005 blockbuster movie by Steven Spielberg. Now, a new TV series adaptation is on the way to bring War of the Worlds to a new generation.
The new War of the Worlds takes place in present-day Europe, and focuses on multiple storylines featuring ordinary people as they try and survive following the aftermath of the aliens’ attack. The series comes from Misfits creator Howard Overman and features Gabriel Byrne and Elizabeth McGovern leading an ensemble cast that includes Léa Drucker, Natasha Little, Daisy Edgar Jones, Stéphane Caillard, Adel Bencherif, and Guillaume Gouix. The adaptation is a limited series consisting of eight episodes.
Byrne reiterated the timelessness of Wells’ work as it relates to the new series. “In literature, dystopian novels and science fiction has been a safe place for us to deal with collective terror,” Byrne told Variety. “But what Wells also understood is that the greatest threat is not from out there, but from inside ourselves, and we see in this new telling of the story a warning that it is only our own humanity that will save us.” Variety also obtained the first photos from the series, which can be viewed below.
The series is a multinational production from Canal Plus, Fox Networks Group Europe & Africa, and AGC Television. U.S. distribution is not yet secured, but between the stellar cast and the classic story, we’re sure it will be picked up by someone in no time.
