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Amazon Studios will be partnering with Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment and writer Dennis Kelly to adapt Consider Phlebas, the first novel in Ian M. Banks’ The Culture series.
Consider Phlebas is a space opera focused on the war between the Idiran Empire, a deeply religious warrior race, and The Culture, a technologically advanced and progressive race. The book series currently consists of 10 novels, so they have plenty of material to draw on for subsequent seasons if it’s successful.
Amazon’s original offerings don’t have much in the way of science fiction at the moment, aside from Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams (acquired from the BBC), but Consider Phlebas joins a host of upcoming sci-fi series from the studio. Adaptations of the novels Ringworld (Larry Niven), Snow Crash (Neal Stephenson), and Darkover (Marion Zimmer Bradley), the graphic novel Lazarus (Greg Rucka), and the podcast Homecoming (Sam Esmail) are all in various stages of production.
Looks like Amazon may soon be the go-to place for sci-fi in the near future. I feel like I can’t trust Syfy after their cringe-y adaptation of Childhood’s End, so I’m always happy to see beloved sci-fi series end up elsewhere. I know, I know, The Expanse is decent, but I feel like it’s a Battlestar Galactica-esque fluke. Fight me on it.
Amazon Studios to Adapt Consider Phlebas, First Novel of the Culture Series, for Television [Businesswire]