Dan Simmons' award-winning novel Hyperion is finally getting the television treatment on the Syfy channel.
Today, the network announced that the novel would be adapted for an "event series," which what the network likes to call its mini-series.
However, Syfy isn't doing this alone: the network has tapped into some serious talent to pull off the adaptation, including Oscar-nominated Bradley Cooper (American Sniper), Oscar-winning producer Graham King (The Departed, Argo) and Todd Phillips (The Hangover, Old School).
Serving as writer for the screenplay is Itamar Moses (Boardwalk Empire), who will also executive produce the series with Cooper, King and Phillips.
"It is an absolute honor to enter into the world created by Dan Simmons that is arguably one of the greatest works of science fiction, and help realize it for television audiences," says Cooper in a press release.
In Hyperion, the galaxy is at war and on the brink of Armageddon. The novel tells the story of 11 people of this time who go out on their own journeys to find answers for their own lives (hint: it's not 42). Each one carries hope that they, and the galaxy, will survive, but they also each have a secret and one of those secrets could save humanity.
Hyperion won the Hugo Award in 1989 for science fiction and is the first in a series of books called the Hyperion Cantos. The book takes on the style of The Canterbury Tales by following the people, or pilgrims', stories as they make their voyages. The novel also won the Locus Award in 1990 and was nominated for both the 1990 British Science Fiction Awards and the 1992 Arthur C. Clarke awards. Science fiction fans often refer to it as one of the greatest science fiction books of all time.
"Hyperion is a science fiction masterpiece," says Jeff Wachtel, President & Chief Content Officer of NBC Universal, Syfy's parent company. "Dan Simmons' universe is unique and darkly compelling, and the creative team assembled here is simply as good as it gets."
Last year, Syfy announced that new commitment to science fiction television, so Hyperion joins several other new Syfy ventures, including space-based television series Killjoys and Dark Matter, along with upcoming series The Magicians. Adaptations of two other popular science fiction novels are also in the works: The Expanse and Childhood's End, which both air in December. Other future productions also include an adaptation of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World.
Photo Credit: Penguin Random House
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