Waterworld, the Kevin Costner-led action movie that was a box office bomb, is becoming a TV series. Dan Trachtenberg, who directed 10 Cloverfield Lane, is attached to direct.
According to a report from Collider, producers John Davis and John Fox are putting together the project, which is planned to be a sequel to the science fiction movie. Nothing is set in stone, but the concept is that we’ll pick up 20 years after with the same cast of characters, still all stuck in a world with no land. It’s believed a streaming service is already interested in the sci-fi series, but neither Davis nor Fox would say who, and writers are still being decided.
“We’re talking to folks, but nobody locked in yet. Trachtenberg’s attached, we’re breaking the story now and we’re talking to a few different writers,” Fox said. “And we should have a writer locked in, I would think, over the next couple of weeks.” Universal, which owns the film, is handling the show, making Peacock the likely platform.
Released in 1995, Waterworld takes place in 2500, in a world where climate change has melted the ice caps, raising the Earth’s oceans. The Mariner, played by Kevin Costner, is a human mutant who has skills and heightened swimming abilities. He and a ramshackle group face pirates, led by Dennis Hopper’s Deacon, on their way to Dryland, the last remaining piece of vegetative land on the planet.
The production was famously troubled, and it lost quite a bit of money at the box office. That said, it’s not hard to see the relevance of a sequel or remake in the modern age, given our still ongoing struggles against impending climate disaster.
Trachtenberg seems to have a few irons in the fire right now, working on this, and shooting Skull, a Predator prequel. Aside from 10 Cloverfield Lane, he directed the pilot for The Boys, too. He’s a busy man, and rightly so. Here’s the best adventure movies for more wily hijinks.