Steven Spielberg's Abandoned Sci-Fi Movie Is Officially Being Revived as a TV Series
There are very few filmmakers who have contributed quite as much to science fiction as Steven Spielberg, and when you’ve given the world everything from E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial to Jurassic Park and Minority Report, you’re a god. But even Spielberg has run into some hiccups from time to time. One of Spielberg’s most ambitious projects looked like it had fallen by the wayside, until now.
Spielberg’s long-abandoned Sci-Fi adaptation of Robopocalypse is officially being revived as a television series, with Ron Howard attached to direct the pilot and Akiva Goldsman serving as writer and showrunner. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Howard’s Imagine Entertainment and Goldsman’s Weed Road are developing the series, with Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment also involved as an executive producer.
Based on Daniel H. Wilson‘s 2011 novel of the same name, Robopocalypse imagines a terrifying future in which the technology humanity has become dependent upon suddenly turns against its creators.
Roughly twenty years from now, our technological marvels unite and turn against us. A childlike but massively powerful artificial intelligence known as Archos comes online…and kills the man who created it.
Roughly twenty years from now, our technological marvels unite and turn against us. A childlike but massively powerful artificial intelligence known as Archos comes online…and kills the man who created it.
- The Wachowskis’ 1999 film won four Academy Awards, including Visual Effects and Film
Editing. - Bullet time was shot with a rig of roughly 120 still cameras firing in sequence around the
actors. - Keanu Reeves trained in martial arts for about four months before a frame was shot,
recovering from neck surgery the whole time. - It opened the same year as Fight Club and eXistenZ, in a run of films about not trusting the
world in front of you.
- Mad Max: Fury Road won six Academy Awards in 2016, more than any other film that year.
- George Miller storyboarded the entire film as roughly 3,500 panels before there was a
script. - The chase was shot almost entirely practical in the Namib Desert, with real vehicles and
real stunt performers. - Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth carried the prequel, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, in 2024.
- Blade Runner 2049 won Roger Deakins his first Oscar for cinematography, on his fourteenth
nomination. - The film also took Best Visual Effects, 35 years after Ridley Scott’s 1982 original.
- Villeneuve shot it on large-format film and kept the fog and rain practical on set wherever
he could. - Three short films by Luke Scott and Shinichiro Watanabe bridge the 30-year gap between the
two movies.
- Denis Villeneuve’s Dune won six Academy Awards in 2022, including Cinematography and
Original Score. - Hans Zimmer turned down Christopher Nolan’s Tenet so he could score Dune instead.
- Dune: Part Two arrived in 2024 and brought in Austin Butler, Florence Pugh and Christopher
Walken. - David Lynch’s 1984 version and Alejandro Jodorowsky’s unmade one are both their
own legends by now.
- The 1977 original won six Academy Awards plus a special achievement award for sound effects.
- John Williams’ score was recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra and became the
best-selling symphonic film soundtrack ever. - Andor took the galaxy somewhere colder and earned Emmy nominations for drama series in both
seasons. - The saga now runs across eleven feature films and a growing shelf of series on Disney+.
Why Did Steven Spielberg Abandon ‘Robopocalypse’?
Spielberg originally acquired the rights to Wilson’s novel before its publication, with Drew Goddard (The Martian) hired to write the screenplay, while Chris Hemsworth and Anne Hathaway were attached to star at various points during development, but it was put on hold in 2013 and Spielberg explained it was just too expensive.
It was gargantuan. It was a company-ender. It would have ended a whole studio that would have never made its money back. So, I literally decided it was going to be the most expensive movie I ever directed, and I wasn’t ready to take that on.
</blockquote>It was gargantuan. It was a company-ender. It would have ended a whole studio that would have never made its money back. So, I literally decided it was going to be the most expensive movie I ever directed, and I wasn’t ready to take that on.
Michael Bay subsequently became attached to direct a new version in 2018, but that adaptation also failed to materialize. However, now, Howard believes the story’s exploration of humanity’s increasingly complicated relationship with technology makes it particularly relevant.
Robopocalypse has all the scale and suspense of a major action story, but what drew me to it are the thought-provoking themes and humanity at its center. Daniel created a future that feels both startling and increasingly plausible, with characters who must figure out what connects us when the technology we rely on turns against us. I am also thrilled to work with Akiva again. We have shared some incredibly meaningful creative experiences, and this feels like the right story to bring us back together.
</blockquote>Robopocalypse has all the scale and suspense of a major action story, but what drew me to it are the thought-provoking themes and humanity at its center. Daniel created a future that feels both startling and increasingly plausible, with characters who must figure out what connects us when the technology we rely on turns against us. I am also thrilled to work with Akiva again. We have shared some incredibly meaningful creative experiences, and this feels like the right story to bring us back together.
Robopocalypse is currently in development.
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