Westworld creators Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan, in conjunction with Robert Downey Jr’s production company Team Downey, are working on a sparkling new project for HBO, called Sphere. They will thus be taking forward both their relationships with the content giant. Westworld streams on HBO, and Robert Downey Jr has a first look deal with HBO. HBO show Perry Mason was a result of that deal.
Sphere is an adaptation of Michael Crichton’s 1987 novel of the same name. The Westworld TV series was also based on Crichton’s 1973 movie Westworld. HBO’s Sphere will be the second adaptation of Crichton’s novel. The first was the 1998 movie Sphere, starring Dustin Hoffman, Sharon Stone and Samuel L. Jackson.
The narrative centres on a team of scientists who go 1000 ft underwater and discover a strange object on the floor of the ocean. They encounter strange events, typhoons and even a black hole. The narrative has an alien angle to it, along with science fiction elements, suspense, mystery and drama. There’s also time travel involved in the storyline.
The Synopsis of Michael Crichton’s 1987 novel ‘Sphere’ is as follows –
“In the middle of the South Pacific, a thousand feet below the surface, a huge vessel is unearthed. Rushed to the scene is a team of American scientists who descend together into the depths to investigate the astonishing discovery. What they find defies their imaginations and mocks their attempts at logical explanation. It is a spaceship, but apparently it is undamaged by its fall from the sky. And, most startling, it appears to be at least three hundred years old, containing a terrifying and destructive force that must be controlled at all costs.”
Denise Thé, executive producer and writer on Westworld, will serve as showrunner for Sphere. She will also executive produce the show, along with Team Downey, Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan.
Going by the 1998 movie Sphere, HBO certainly has a winner on its hands, what with the audience’s increased interest in shows centering on time travel, aliens and science fiction.
Stay tuned to Binged.com for further news on HBO’s Sphere.
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