USA Network has given a straight-to-series order to Brave New World, based on the Aldous Huxley novel, from Universal Content Productions and Amblin Television. The series adaptation was written by David Wiener (Homecoming), with Grant Morrison (Happy!) and Brian Taylor (Happy!, Crank).
Brave New World has had a long development history. Syfy and Amblin TV originally partnered to develop a scripted series based on Huxley’s classic in 2015. A year later, Morrison and Taylor were tapped to write the adaptation.
Speculation started last summer that Brave New World may be moving from Syfy to the larger-scale sibling USA Network with a straight-to-series order and a co-licensing deal with a digital platform to distribute it internationally. By last fall, stages in the UK had been reserved for the production, and there were rumors that USA and Syfy’s newest corporate sibling, the British Sky, may be involved.
As of now, no distribution partners for Brave New World are being announced, UCP was a pioneer in forging international deals with streaming platforms, which helped a number of its projects get straight-to-series orders, more recently Syfy’s Nightflyers and USA’s Treadstone.
Based on Huxley’s groundbreaking 1932 novel, Brave New World imagines a utopian society that has achieved peace and stability through the prohibition of monogamy, privacy, money, family, and history itself.
As citizens of New London, Bernard Marx and Lenina Crowne have only ever known a rigid social order, a perfect pharmaceutical called Soma, and a culture of instant gratification and ubiquitous sex. Curious to explore life beyond the strictures of their society, the two New Worlders embark on a vacation to the Savage Lands, where they become embroiled in a harrowing and violent rebellion. Bernard and Lenina are rescued by John the Savage, who escapes with them back to New London. John’s arrival in the New World soon threatens to disrupt its utopian harmony, leaving Bernard and Lenina to grapple with the repercussions. The three become entwined in a fraught relationship that awakens them to the dangers of their own conditioning.
Wiener and Morrison executive produce along with Amblin TV’s Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey. Wiener will also serve as showrunner. Owen Harris (Black Mirror: San Junipero) will direct the first episode and executive produce the series. Taylor will executive produce on the first episode.
USA recently announced series orders for its pilots Briarpatch from Andy Greenwald and executive produced by Sam Esmail, and Dare Me, based on the young adult novel from Megan Abbott. The latter has a co-licensing deal with Netflix, which will distribute internationally.
At Syfy, Amblin TV also has pilot Resident Alien. The company’s current series include Bull for CBS, Roswell, New Mexico for the CW, The Haunting of Hill House for Netflix, Amazing Stories for Apple, Halo for Showtime and Animaniacs for Hulu.
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