MTV is developing a live-action reboot of Aeon Flux, the animated series that originally ran for three seasons in the 1990s. Teen Wolf showrunner Jeff Davis is on board to pen the script and also act as executive producer, alongside The Walking Dead‘s Gale Anne Hurd, who, while not attached to the original series, did produce the 2005 feature film which starred Charlize Theron.
The series is set in a future dystopian state and revolves around a young assassin who teams up with a group of biohacking rebels to save humanity, becoming the hero known as Aeon Flux. The original show first aired in 1991 as part of MTV’s Liquid Television, and was at the time a rare animated series aimed at adults that included graphic violence, sex and fetishism.
The show was created by Peter Chung (Rugrats) and ran for several short, but acclaimed, seasons. The 2005 film was the first non-animated depiction of Aeon Flux, having previously only existed on television and in video games. The film bombed both critically and commercially, with Chung calling it a “travesty”, however MTV is going to try the live-action route once more.
This isn’t particularly surprising since rebooting previously beloved content is the name of the game nowadays. Aeon Flux is still a part of the network’s library, so rather than having it sit on the shelf, they will instead rejig it and mine it for profit.
Viacom (who own MTV) is reportedly pushing their brands to monetise their libraries as they attempt to revitalise their networks, while consumers happily let reruns of Jersey Shore fall by the wayside and instead turn their attention to on-demand services such as Netflix and Amazon. But MTV are reportedly planning a Real World revival, which will surely have the streaming giants shaking in their boots…
Still, having the original Aeon Flux producers attached for this reboot is a plus, and with the right creators on board this could be miles away from the 2005 live-action disaster. MTV will also hope that this new version of the show will make a potential sale of the original series much more profitable, of course.
#Peace.Love.AeonFlux
