Since the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic shut down TV and film productions worldwide, with casts and crews only just beginning to return, creatives have turned to audio productions to tell their stories. There’s Big Finish’s line of Doctor Who radio plays, as well as Audible’s massive Sandman adaptation, just to name a few. Joining the mix is a new 10-part podcast from iHeartRadio starring John Boyega and Darren Criss, Deadline reports, which completed production during quarantine by sending each cast member a “Studio in a Box.” Entitled There Be Monsters, the narrative is a sci-fi thriller about tech companies that sounds like Ex Machina meets Limitless, with a side of Cronenbergian body horror.
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In the podcast, Boyega plays Jack Locke, whom Deadline describes as a “a mysterious hero with a vendetta who infiltrates a Silicon Valley body hacking startup.” The startup is headed by “enigmatic CEO Max Fuller,” played by Criss, who claims he can “enhance human biology in incredible ways” with his top-secret body hacking drugs. “Of course,” the publication promises, “every drug has a side effect.”
According to Deadline, There Be Monsters is created, directed, and co-written by Dan Bush (The Signal), who describes the series as “a psychological thriller that chronicles the rise of humankind 2.0, and the disruptions to society that come with it.” Nicholas Tecosky serves as co-writer on the project, with Boyega producing alongside Bush and Beau Flynn. Other cast-members include Marley Shelton (Manhunt), Clark Gregg (the MCU’s Agent Coulson), and Sahr Ngaujah (Luke Cage).
There’s no word yet on a release date, although Deadline reports the podcast will arrive “later this year.”
Photos of John Boyega and Darren Criss by Gage Skidmore, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0