Emilia Clarke and Chiwetel Ejiofor have signed on to star in The Pod Generation. No, not a film about podcast-loving millennials, but a sci-fi romantic comedy that will be directed by Sophie Barthes. The film takes place in a near-future world where babies can be generated in detachable pods, which allows both parents to share the joys – and pains – of pregnancy.
Ejiofor will play Alvy, a botanist who distrusts the new world where AI is slowly replacing everything natural. However, he’s ready to give the pod generation of babies a shot, as this will allow him to start a family with his partner Rachel, played by Clarke. But this puts the couple in the crosshairs of mysterious tech-giant Pegasus.
The Pod Generation will be Barthes’ third film after previously helming historical romance Madame Bovary and drama Cold Souls, which also had a weird sci-fi angle as it focused on Paul Giamatti (playing himself) attempting to freeze his soul. She said of Clarke and Ejiofor’s casting for The Pod Generation:
“Working with Emilia and Chiwetel as a couple on screen is a dream come true. Emilia’s versatility, her disarming sense of humor, and capacity to navigate complex emotions are a perfect match to Chiwetel’s charisma and extraordinary screen presence.” She added that the “idea of the artificial womb as either doom or liberation for women is inherently comedic material.”
Fionnuala Jamison, the managing director of producing company MK2 Films, added that the movie will raise “ethical questions about where technology is taking us, like once the womb has been commodified, what’s next?”, and said that female directors haven’t been given the chance to direct much sci-fi, so there’s plenty of opportunity for creativity and new ideas.
Even though the film will have comedic elements, there should certainly be plenty of interesting ethical dilemmas for audiences to discuss once The Pod Generation arrives, especially as the future world it’s depicting probably isn’t too far away from reality.
Clarke recently signed on to play Joseph McCarthy‘s wife Jean Kerr in Vaclav Marhoul‘s biopic about the disgraced senator, while she also has an undisclosed role in upcoming Marvel Disney+ series, Secret Invasion.
Ejiofor is also a part of the MCU, and will reprise his role as Karl Mordo in Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness next year.
He’s also set to star alongside Naomie Harris in another sci-fi project – upcoming Showtime series The Man Who Fell To Earth, based on the 1963 novel of the same name that was previously adapted into the 1976 film that starred David Bowie.
The Pod Generation doesn’t have a release date yet, but will begin shooting in March 2022.
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