After six years of attempting to get a film iteration of the Stephen King short story off the ground, The Jaunt is heading in a different direction as Fear the Walking Dead co-creator Dave Erickson has begun development on a series adaptation of the work, according to Deadline.
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First published in The Twilight Zone Magazine in 1981, the story is set in the early 24th century in which the titular technology for teleportation is commonplace and allows instantaneous transportation across enormous distances, including other planets in the Solar System, but still has a lot of dangerous unknowns regarding it. Erickson is set to create and develop the property for the screen and is eyeing the showrunner position, though it’s unclear if he will serve as writer or supervisor to other writers.
“We’ve long admired Dave’s visionary creative work and are thrilled to welcome him to MRC,” Elise Henderson, President of MRC Television, said in a statement. “A true master of his craft, he’s the ideal partner to build upon the work of Stephen King, and create and develop more originals as the studio continues to expand.”
The series is part of a new overall creative deal that Erickson has signed with MRC Television, joining a roster of creative writing talent including The Outsider‘s Cynthia Erivo, Richard Price and Jessie Nickson-Lopez, Ozark‘s Julia Garner and Chris Munday, Noelle Valdivia, Familystyle and Rian Johnson and Ram Bergman’s T-Street Productions. The indie studio is currently
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Erickson, well-known for co-creating the hit AMC zombie drama Fear the Walking Dead, recently served as executive producer on the Charlie Hunnam-starring drama Shantaram at Apple TV. An adaptation of King’s short story was first being developed for the screen beginning in 2015 with IT helmer Andy Muschietti attached to direct and though there’s no confirmation the project is dead, the development of the series seems to point towards its cancellation.
(Photo Credit: Jesse Grant/Getty Images for AMC)
