Syfy has teamed up with actor Bradley Cooper (“American Sniper”), and producers Graham King (“The Departed,” “Argo”) and Todd Phillips (“The Hangover,” “Old School”) to develop “Hyperion,” the Hugo Award-winning 1989 science-fiction novel by Dan Simmons, into an event series.
At this point, it looks like Cooper is only an executive producer, not a cast member, but we’ll see how that turns out. Playwright and TV writer Itamar Moses, the Berkeley-raised son of Israeli immigrants, is to be a co-executive producer and write the screenplay.
The original novel resembles “The Canterbury Tales,” in that it follows a group of 28th Century pilgrims telling stories while on the way to a colony planet called Hyperion, home to a cult devoted to the Shrike, a half-mechanical, half-organic four-armed creature.
The first story told is called “The Priest’s Tale: The Man Who Cried God,” an account of two of only several thousand remaining Catholic priests (hey, we’re still around in
the 28th Century!) and their encounter with a myth-shrouded civilization. It’ll be interesting to see if this remains in the series, and how it’s handled.
Here’s what Simmons had to say about how he treats religion:
The Catholic Church and organized religion in general both come under heavy fire in the series. How have your religious views changed over the years?
The Catholic Church is not attacked in the Hyperion Cantos. The future Church in these books (and the Pax civil arm of the Church) are not the church of today, but a future version in which temporal power is seized once again by the Church’s ability to grant literal immortality. As for “organized religion” not being treated well — I never understand that phrase; what religions aren’t “organized?” What’s the alternative — someone in nearby Boulder, Colorado, sitting in front of his crystal or pyramid, soaking up its powers?
I love “organized religions” and there are scads of them in the Hyperion novels — ranging from the re-vitalized (but totally corrupted) Catholic Church to the mystery cult of the Shrike Cult to the environmentalists’ excess of the Templars who worship the Book of the Muir to the successful new revealed religion of our messiah and hero, Aenea. Even her movement — charismatic in the true sense of the word — becomes “organized” by the end of the book.
One of the first characters to tell his tale in Hyperion is the priest, based a bit on Teilhard de Chardin, and he suffers a terrible crucifixion, over and over again, rather than allow the cruciform to bring actual resurrection to his Church — preferring the Church based on the promise of Christ rather than to have it thus corrupted by controlling the secret to immortality. Readers and reviewers tend to ignore that this early touchstone of Teilhard, with his prescient 1950s view of the entire planet becoming a melded “noosphere” tied together by electronics, is precisely the evolutionary epistle preached by Aenea.
From Syfy’s press release:
Set on the eve of Armageddon with the entire galaxy at war, Hyperion is the story of seven pilgrims who set forth on a voyage to seek the answers to the unsolved riddles of their lives. Each carries a desperate hope and a terrible secret — while one may hold the fate of humanity in his hands.
“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,” said executive producer Cooper.
Said Dave Howe, President, Syfy & Chiller: “As Syfy continues to forge important partnerships with award-winning talent on and off screen, this powerhouse team led by Bradley Cooper, Graham King and Todd Phillips brings an extraordinary track record in producing entertainment of the highest creative ambition. Epitomizing the gold standard of science fiction story-telling, Hyperion tackles smart and provocative themes that help define Syfy’s development vision.”
“Hyperion is a science fiction masterpiece. Dan Simmons’ universe is unique and darkly compelling, and the creative team assembled here is simply as good as it gets,” said Jeff Wachtel, President & Chief Content Officer, NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment.
Cooper is represented by CAA. Moses is represented by UTA, and Phillips is represented by CAA and attorney Warren Dern at Sloane, Offer, Weber, & Dern.
Hyperion is the latest high profile scripted project to be announced by Syfy; others include the recently-announced series pickup of The Magicians, based on Lev Grossman’s best-selling books; the 10-part series The Expanse, airing December 2015 and starring Thomas Jane; Arthur C. Clarke’s epic mini-series Childhood’s End, also set to premiere this December; Aldous Huxley’s classic novel Brave New World with Amblin Television; Gale Anne Hurd’s 13-episode thriller Hunters; David Goyer’s Superman prequel, Krypton; and Incorporated, a futuristic espionage drama from Matt Damon and Ben Affleck.
No anticipated premiere date has yet been announced.
Images: Wikimedia Commons; Doubleday
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