After causing a bidding war among major networks, including Netflix, Joss Whedon‘s latest project – a victorian drama titled The Nevers – has landed at HBO and been given a straight-to-series order.
Despite being set in Victorian times, the show will reportedly mix in elements of sci-fi as it follows a group of women who begin to develop powers, and must soon use them to try and save the world from a host of enemies. Whedon will serve as writer, director, executive producer and showrunner of the series. In a statement, he said:
“I honestly couldn’t be more excited. The Nevers is maybe the most ambitious narrative I’ve created, and I can’t imagine a better home for it than HBO. Not only are they the masters of cinematic longform, but their instant understanding of my odd, intimate epic was as emotional as it was incisive.
It’s been too long since I created an entirely new fictional world, and the HBO team offer not just scope and experience, not just ‘prestige,’ but a passionate collaboration. I could go on, but — I’m impatiently grateful to say — I have work to do”.
The Nevers will mark Whedon’s first return to television since creating Dollhouse for Fox, which began airing in 2009 before swiftly being cancelled a year later.
This is the latest major announcement from HBO as they try and ramp up the number of high-profile series on their channel as Game Of Thrones nears its end. Damon Lindelof‘s Watchmen is probably the biggest project in the works, but there’s also J.J. Abrams‘ Demimonde, which looks to be the fantasy-related series that could appeal to Game Of Thrones fans.
Those new shows may still not be enough though, as new HBO owners AT&T are reportedly looking to drastically increase the volume of shows on the network in the coming years as they try and emulate the Netflix model. While HBO has always been known for its high-quality content, that may fall by the wayside if they begin greenlighting more and more shows in order to stay competitive.
#Peace.Love.ThenNevers
