Amazon Developing Ringworld, Snow Crash, Lazarus

Variety


Amazon is dramatically ramping up its production for next year, moving forward with three new high-concept series, Variety has learned. These new efforts represent a significant production investment from the studio, which is currently in preproduction, production or post on 67 TV series and 20 movies around the world.

The streaming service is developing the following:

• “Lazarus,” based on a comic book by Greg Rucka (“Marvel’s Jessica Jones”), is set in an alternative near future, where the world has been divided among 16 rival families, who run their territories in a feudal system. Each family has allies and enemies among the other families. To crush uprisings and fight wars, most families have a Lazarus: a one-person kill squad.

Rucka serves as writer and executive producer on “Lazarus,” along with Michael Lark (“Captain America: The Winter Soldier”) and Angela Cheng Caplan.

• “Snow Crash,” which is based on Neal Stephenson’s cult novel, is a one-hour science fiction drama set in futuristic America. In reality, Hiro Protagonist delivers pizza for Uncle Enzo’s CosoNostra Pizza Inc., but in the Metaverse he’s a warrior prince. Plunging headlong into the enigma of a new computer virus that’s striking down hackers everywhere, he races along the neon-lit streets on a search-and-destroy mission for the shadowy virtual villain.

A co-production with Paramount Television, “Snow Crash” is executive produced by Joe Cornish (“Ant-Man”) and Frank Marshall (“Back to the Future”).

• “Ringworld,” a co-production with MGM, is based on Larry Niven’s sci-fi book series from the 70’s. It tells the story of Louis Gridley Wu, a bored man celebrating his 200th birthday in a technologically-advanced, future Earth. Upon being offered one of the open positions on a voyage, Louis joins a young woman and two aliens to explore Ringworld, the remote artificial ring beyond “Known Space.”


Could be interesting if done right.