Fri Oct 10, 2008 — by Josh Wigler

'V' is for Vicious Alien Lizards

ABC Buys Spec Script for TV Remake

The lizards are coming, and we're not talking about Dr. Curt Connors' family reunion.

A remake of the 1980s miniseries V is being developed by ABC. The series is written by The 4400 co-creator/executive producer Scott Peters, who will also executive produce V.

"Whenever I mention V to anybody, they still have a lot of good memories about the original movie and series," Peters told Variety. "It's a science fiction icon and too good to pass up."

The revamped series focuses on "Erica Evans, a Homeland Security agent with an aimless son who's got problems. When the aliens arrive, her son gloms on to them -- causing tension within the family."

Though taking significant departures from its predecessor, the new V will pay homage to the original series. One example includes the '80s series' opening with an army of spaceships hovering over Earth's major cities, which will carry over to the updated series.

V struggled as a weekly series in the hands of people who thought science fiction gave them license to do whatever they please.  It was canceled despite a cliffhanger ending and ever since, Johnson has talked of reviving the property.

So has Warner Bros. and NBC and at one point a revamp courtesy of  J. Michael Straczynski got as far as the script stage.  Then, in 2004, Johnson pitched a remake but NBC asked for a new sequel, set 20 years later, and was given a green light to develop the concept. He finished the four-hour miniseries script for V the Second Generation in 2006 and NBC stalled approving it.

Johnson, to push his case, turned the screenplay into his first prose novel which Tor published in February 2008. All along, he kept hoping NBC would give him the go signal but it never came. Instead, rumblings were that the peacock network was getting cold feet while ABC was expressing interest.

In April, Johnson said, "... since I own the motion picture rights to V, we’re in the process to do a remake of the original mini-series first as a theatrical feature, which I’m so jazzed about because it will give me an opportunity to really realize it and execute it in a way that was impossible to do back then. Then that will lead to the obvious sequel, because it is a franchise, and then we’ll get into The Second Generation and I'm hoping we’ll be able to do two movies, because there’s certainly enough material in the novel to warrant two separate sequels. That’s my goal at this point and that’s what we’re in the process of doing. I just literally came from a meeting, 15-20 minutes ago with a fellow in Beverly Hills who really says that we’re gonna do it."

As recently as Thursday, his website was discounting word the property was headed for ABC and out of his creative control entirely.

Warner Bros. TV is producing the project. Former Warner Bros.' video game division leader and current HDFilms employee Jace Hall will translate V to other platforms aside from television, including gaming. Previously, the series had been adapted into a series of original novels and an 18-issue comic book from DC Comics. The miniseries and single season of the original were released on DVD in 2004.

Jump to comments (2)