After taking on an iconic film role as young Han Solo in Lucasfilm’s Solo: A Star Wars Story, Alden Ehrenreich is set to take on an iconic piece of literature. Ehrenreich will lead the cast of Brave New World, the new series adaptation of Aldous Huxley’s celebrated novel of the same name.
The project comes from UCP and Amblin television, who originally developed the series at Syfy and recently announced a straight-to-series pickup on USA Network. Per Deadline, the series is now in consideration as a potential flagship for NBCU’s upcoming streaming platform, which is set for a planned 2020 launch.
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The big-budget series has writers David Wiener (Homecoming), Grant Morrison (Happy!), and Brian Taylor (Mom and Dad), who are adapting from Huxley’s speculative fiction masterwork about a dystopian future society where citizens are modified and trained to conform to the wants and desires of their seemingly Utopian society. The novel is one of the most celebrated examinations of fascism and so-called Utopia, as well as an incredibly ahead of its time sci-fi tale that predicted a number of scientific advancements in the coming centuries. Which is to say that it’s not going to be an easy adaptation to get right.
Weiner will serve as showrunner, as well as executive producing alongside Morrison and Amblin TV’s Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey (The Americans, The Haunting of Hill House). Owen Harris, who directed two of Black Mirror‘s most celebrated episodes (San Junipero and Be Right Back) and the premiere episode of the new The Twilight Zone series will direct the pilot episode and executive produce. Obviously, he’ll be right at home in the nightmares of future tech. Taylor is executive producing the first episode.
Image via HarperCollins
In addition to Solo, Ehrenreich previously starred in Beautiful Creatures and Blue Jasmine and stole scenes from some of the best acting veterans in the biz in the Coen Brothers Hail, Caeser!. Brave New World will be his first starring TV role.
