Gattaca has steadily become one of the more beloved sci-fi films of its era, but that cult following has yet to turn it into a franchise of any sort… until now. THR is reporting that Showtime is working on rebooting the film into a TV series with Homeland duo Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa joining Craig Borten (Dallas Buyers Club) to create the series. Everything is still very early on with the Gattaca remake / TV reboot, and Showtime and Sony TV, which is producing the series, had no comment about it.
The series is part of new Showtime boss Chris McCarthy’s attempt to capitalize on any and every popular franchise he can, with Dexter and Billions spinoffs in the works already. Evidently, he is also a big fan of the original 1997 Gattaca and is pushing this project hard. While that still doesn’t mean this Gattaca remake / reboot will come to fruition, work has been going on on the project for more than a month, and if the head of the entire service wants something done, it usually gets done. That’s reflected in the fact that reports say that the series would get a “sizeable commitment,” giving it a nice budget and plenty of push.
When Gattaca, which starred Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman, came out, the film was a pretty big flop, pulling in only $12.5 million against a budget of about $36 million. However, over the years it has gained a following and been reconsidered as a bit of a science fiction masterpiece, especially as its subject matter of cloning and eugenics becomes more and more plausible. Still, a flop film from a quarter of a century ago is a bit of a risk to toss a ton of money at. HBO has recently been cutting high-minded sci-fi exactly like it, but it seems Showtime thinks it can get a winner, especially with the Homeland team behind it.
