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CBS All Access has ordered The Man Who Fell to Earth, its new original series based on Walter Tevis’s 1963 sci-fi novel and the iconic film starring David Bowie.
The announcement was made during CBS All Access’ executive session at the Television Critics Association summer tour in Beverly Hills, Calif. Alex Kurtzman, Jenny Lumet and John Hlavin will serve as co-showrunners for the series, which follows an alien who arrives on Earth at a turning point in human evolution and must determine our future.
“Walter Tevis’ visionary novel gave us a ‘tech god’ Willy Wonka from another planet, brought to life by David Bowie’s legendary performance, that foretold Steve Jobs’ and Elon Musk’s impacts on our world,” Kurtzman and Lumet said. “The series will imagine the next step in our evolution, seen through the eyes of an alien who must learn what it means to become human, even as he fights for the survival of his species.”
“I’ve been a fan of this extraordinary film starring David Bowie for years,” said CBS Television Studios President David Stapf. “While no one can ever hope to surpass Bowie, bringing the film to series will allow for an ongoing detailed and nuanced exploration of the concepts established in the novel.”
CBS All Access has also unveiled its cast for The Stand, the limited series based on Stephen King’s novel of the same name. James Marsden (Dead to Me), Amber Heard (Aquaman), Odessa Young (Looking for Grace) and Henry Zaga (Trinkets) will star in the 10-episode series.
The streamer also announced that King will write the last chapter of the series, providing a new coda that won’t be found in the book.
The two newly announced series join CBS All Access’ growing slate of original programming, which also includes the upcoming murder mystery, Why Women Kill. The series, starring Ginnifer Goodwin, Lucy Lii and Kirby Howell-Baptiste, details the lives of three women from three different decades as they deal with infidelity in their marriages.
RELATED: CBS Access Wonders ‘Why Women Kill’
Tell Me a Story, the streamer’s thriller anthology series, will return for a second season with three more fairy tale classics: “Beauty and the Beast,” “Sleeping Beauty” and “Cinderella.” However, they’ll take a “darker” approach, says creator Kevin Williamson.
[Cover photo courtesy of Deadline].