HBO’s Westworld, based on the film written and directed by Michael Crichton, has been a hit for the network. So Home Box Office is looking to adapt another Crichton property.
HBO is planning a series based on the 1987 Crichton novel Sphere. If that title sounds familiar, it’s because the book was already adapted into a completely forgettable, bland 1998 movie starring Dustin Hoffman, Sharon Stone and Samuel L. Jackson. That movie was a commercial and critical failure but the book is pretty well-regarded among sci-fi fans.
The book is about a group of scientists who are sent to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean to investigate a crashed space ship. They soon learn the secrets of the ship and a mysterious sphere that resides inside of it. The book was part sci-fi/part thriller and dealt with a whole lot of heady issues. HBO is obviously hoping that their Sphere will follow in the tradition of Westworld, a science fiction show that also packs in a lot of action and a lot of ruminations on humanity, free will, technology and much more. Sphere will be much deeper than the movie, you can be sure of that.
The show will be run by Westworld writer Denise Thé and produced by Westworld masterminds Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy. Athena Wickham, Robert Downey Jr (yes, that Robert Downey Jr), Susan Downey and Amanda Burrell will also produce.
We always need more smart sci-fi in the world and HBO seems to be a champion of it lately. I’m quite sure they’ll convert Sphere into another show with a long drawn out mystery that may or may not be adequately solved because that seems to be how all modern sci-fi works. Still, I’m for it.