It’s no surprise that networks and studios wants to be in theJ.J. Abramsbusiness given his track record of success, and while there were murmurs that his new showDemimondemight land at Apple as part of their forthcoming streaming service,THRreports that the sci-fi drama has landed at HBO with a straight-to-series order.
Per THR, “the Abrams drama is about a family — consisting of a mother who works as a scientist, her husband and their young daughter — who all get into a terrible car crash. After the mother winds up in a coma, her daughter begins digging through her experiments in the basement and winds up transporting to another land amid a world’s battle against a monstrous, oppressive force. Her father then follows her into this new world.” That sounds like a neat premise, and HBO describes it as “an epic and intimate sci-fi fantasy drama”, i.e. “We desperately need to keep theGame of Thronesfans around after that series is over.”
Abrams reportedly chose HBO over Apple since he was impressed with their work onWestworld, which he serves as an executive producer on. While Abrams has been an EP on multiple shows over the past several years includingRoadies,Person of Interest,11.22.63, and the upcomingCastle Rock,Demimondewill mark the first time sinceFringethat a show will work from one of his scripts. It’s unknown who will serve as showrunner at this time. It’s unlikely Abrams would oversee the series day-to-day given his busy film schedule, especially withStar Wars: Episode IXon the horizon.
It will be interesting to see howDemimondepans out, and it’s certainly a savvy move by both Abrams and HBO to just commit to a series order (the number of episodes have yet to be determined) rather than leave the show in the ether like projects fromDavid FincherandSteve McQueenthat never saw the light of day.
