’12 MONKEYS’ TV PILOT could begin filming THIS NOVEMBER.
12 Monkeys was one of those movies that just straight-up fucking terrified me when I saw it for the first time. I was young, it was dark as shit, nothing ended happily. The uncomfortable feeling I had after finishing that first viewing sticks with me to this day. So maybe that’s why I’m both excited and apprehensive about a potential TV series.
Syfy has ordered a pilot for an adaptation of Terry Gilliam’s 1995 film 12 Monkeys,Deadline reports. The series was first revealed last month, when The Hollywood Reportersaid that original 12 Monkeys producers Chuck Roven and Richard Suckle had successfully pitched a TV version of the classic film. Now, there’s word that Syfy will soon be producing a 60-minute pilot, penned by Terra Nova and Nikita screenwriters Terry Matalas and Travis Fickett. A short season is planned after the pilot, but there’s still no sign of who might appear onscreen; if the network and producers can agree on a cast, filming will tentatively start in November.
So far, everything we’ve heard about the series indicates that it will follow the basic premise of 12 Monkeys, with a time-traveler sent back to study the spread of a deadly disease. Unfortunately, that’s all we’ve heard, so it’s hard to say what relationship the series will have with the 1995 original or with La Jetée, the 1962 French short that inspired Gilliam’s film.