HBO has put in development an adaptation of Michael Chrichton’s science-fiction novel “Sphere” from executive producers Robert Downey Jr. and “Westworld” duo Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy.
Denise Thé, who was an executive producer and writer for the third season of “Westworld,” will serve as showrunner. Nolan and Joy will produced under their Kilter Films banner with Athena Wickham, while Downey will produce via Team Downey, alongside Susan Downey and Amanda Burrell.
Warner Bros. TV — where Joy and Nolan had individual deals before they left for an overall deal with Amazon Studios last year — will be the studio on the project, as it was developed under their prior deals with the duo.
Based on the novel by Michael Crichton, “Sphere” plunges us one thousand feet into the ocean, where a group of scientists confronts the surreal, beautiful, and deadly mysteries of the universe, only to find the people closest to us may prove to be the most alien. For the Joy and Nolan, this marks the second adaptation of Chrichton’s works; his 1973 “Westworld” film provided the basis for the HBO series.
“Sphere” was published in 1987 and was adapted in 1998 in a movie starring Dustin Hoffman, Sharon Stone, Samuel L. Jackson and Liev Schreiber.
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