Viacom’s upcoming adaptation of The Man Who Fell To Earth recently switched homes, moving from Paramount + to Showtime, and it looks as though production is coming up quickly: the series just brought in two new actors: James Bond actress Naomie Harris, and Westworld and Black Mirror actor Jimmi Simpson.
The series is the latest adaptation of Walter Tevis’s 1963 novel; the first famously starred David Bowie in 1976, while the other was a television pilot that aired in 1987. This new version is coming from Alex Kurtzman and Jenny Lumet, who worked on CBS’s Star Trek Discovery and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, respectively. The series was originally developed for what was then CBS All Access (now Paramount +), but recently switched over to Viacom’s premium channel, Showtime.
Back in February, word broke that the series had cast Chiwetel Ejiofor to lead the series, an alien who arrives on Earth trying to find a way to save his own home planet, but becomes mired in our own troubles after spending too much time with us.
The Hollywood Reporter broke the news that Harris would be joining the series, describing her role as Justin Falls, a “brilliant scientist and engineer who must conquer her own demons in the race to save two worlds,” while Deadline reported on Simpson’s casting, saying that he’ll play “Spencer Clay, a CIA agent whose obsession with the alien’s true identity drives him to the edge of madness.”
Deadline noted that the series is slated to begin production in London sometime this spring, and that it’s expected to premiere on Showtime at some point in 2022.
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