Deadline reports that MTV is digging up some new material with a television adaptation of the H.G. Wells classic, War of the Worlds. Teen Wolf creator and executive producer Jeff Davis will executive produce along with writer Andrew Cochran and Salem‘s Josh Barry and Jeff Kwatinetz.
The outlet reports that the series has been a passion project for Barry, whose grandfather, Gene Barry, was the star of the 1953 film based on the novel.
Wells text was originally published in 1898 telling the story of aliens from Mars that invade Earth, who are defeated not by the virtue of man but by the microscopic bacteria. The book has been adapted into countless different mediums, most notably the 1938 radio adaptation by Orson Welles that presented the story as radio broadcasts and caused panic around the country. It was later adapted into a feature film multiple times, most notably the 2005 film from Steven Spielberg starring Tom Cruise.
War of the Worlds has also been adapted into a musical, several video games, and several comic books including a prominent appearance in Alan Moore’s “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen” and a series where Superman fought the martians.
This isn’t the first time that War of the Worlds was adapted for television as a series previously ran on CBS for two seasons from 1988 to 1990, and was actually a sequel to the 1953 film.
