Sci-Fi Bulletin: Exploring the Universes of SF, Fantasy, Horror and Spy-fi!

Universal Cable Productions (UCP) has unveiled its annual genre development slate of notable projects for TV.

“We’re passionate about genre at UCP and as our latest development slate shows, we continue to work with some of the industry’s most vibrant and imaginative talent to bring fans genre fare they can get behind,” Jeff Wachtel, Chief Content Officer, NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment and President, Universal Cable Productions explained. “What began with Battlestar Galactica has grown into a mainstay for UCP as the genre itself has exploded into the mainstream.”

UCP is developing Maggie Stiefvater’s New York Times bestselling book series The Raven Cycle and Hugh Howey’s iconic post-apocalyptic novel series Sand for SYFY.

Based on Stiefvater’s four rural fantasy novels, The Raven Cycle tells the story of seventeen year old Blue Sargent who becomes involved with a group of four privileged private school boys on a quest to find a source of mythical and mysterious power hidden deep in rural Virginia. The closer they get to taking control of their destiny, the more threatening their journey becomes – both physically and emotionally, as Blue discovers she’s fated to kill one of the boys. Michael London (The Magicians) of Groundswell Productions will executive produce alongside showrunner/writer Andrew Miller (The Secret Circle) and Catherine Hardwicke (Twilight), who is set to direct the pilot.

Sand, a co-production with Imperative Entertainment, is an action drama set in a world ravaged by ecological devastation, savage winds, and shifting dunes. At its centre is a family who makes their way in this world as sand divers: the elite few who can travel deep beneath the desert floor to retrieve mysterious and valuable relics lost to the dust. Adrift in the wake of their father’s disappearance years ago, they rely on skill and each other to endure this ruthless environment where otherwise good people lie, sabotage, and kill in order to survive. The series has an impressively large canvas of works, while telling a compelling and intimate story based on the best-selling dystopian novels by New York Times bestselling author Hugh Howey, who is also set to executive produce. The novels will be adapted for television by Executive Producer Gary Whitta (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story). The pilot will be directed by Marc Forster (World War Z) who will also executive produce.

UCP is also working on Sirens of Titan, with Dan Harmon (Rick & Morty) and Evan Katz (Small Crimes). The story follows Malachi Constant, the richest man in 22nd-century America. He possesses extraordinary luck which he attributes to divine favour and has used to build upon his father’s fortune. He becomes the centre point of a journey that takes him from Earth to Mars in preparation for an interplanetary war, to Mercury with another Martian survivor of that war, back to Earth to be pilloried as a sign of Man’s displeasure with his arrogance, and finally to Titan where he again meets the man ostensibly responsible for the turn of events that have befallen him.

The studio has optioned Lord of Light, based on the Hugo award-winning science fantasy novel by Roger Zelazny. After humans have moved to a new planet, technological disparities allow a privileged few to assume the names and likenesses of deities, and rule over the common people. Tired of the system, a former “god” wages war against the unjust regime. Set to produce are Gale Anne Hurd (the Terminator trilogy) and Valhalla Entertainment; Barry Ira Gellar, Rich Angell and Mark B. Newbauer of Mike and Pike Productions. Ashley Miller (X-Men) will executive produce and is also set to write the adaptation.