Paramount Pictures / DreamWorks
MTV is in the works with a contemporary drama series based on the H.G. Wells classic alien invasion novel, WAR OF THE WORLDS. Teen Wolf series creator Jeff Davis will executive produce and staff writer Andrew Cochran is penning the pilot. The Firm’s Josh Barry and Jeff Kwatinetz will also executive produce.
The series will join a long list of adaptations of the story, which centers on an invasion by an alien race and the attempt to escape the mayhem and ultimately stop the extraterrestrial beings. Orson Welles adapted the story for radio in 1938, spurring popularity for the story and sending the novel flying off the shelves. The most recent adaptation of the story was Steven Spielberg’s 2005 film starring Tom Cruise, though it was first adapted for the big screen by director Bryon Haskin in 1953. A television series was previously made in 1988 and ran for two seasons.
Davis, who also created the CBS series Criminal Minds, is currently in development with the television adaptation of the acclaimed vampire film Let the Right One In for TNT.
Cochran is currently adapting the film Audition for McG and previously wrote the screenplay to Adult World, a 2014 dramedy starring Emma Roberts and John Cusack.
Cochran is repped by Verve and Anonymous Content.
Davis is repped by WME and Magnet Management.
Josh Lyons | Managing Editor
This news was first reported by Deadline.
