Vertigo Comics’ new ongoing series, Unfollow, has a very timely premise which may have contributed to the extremely fast pickup ABC has given it for its upcoming development slate. Not bad for a comic that’s only been out for two weeks!

As conceived by writer Rob Williams and artist Michael Dowling, Unfollow centers on 140 people who were seemingly chosen at random by a dying social media mogul. The mogul’s billions will be evenly distributed to the 140 men and women that he picked. The catch? The chosen 140 can increase their share of the wealth by eliminating each other, which leads them all to violently turn on one another. Under the rules put forth by the mogul, the contest for his fortune will only run until he draws his last breath.

Outside of Mark Millar’s creator-owned titles, it’s rare to see a comic book get optioned so quickly. Michael Narducci — the executive producer and showrunner of The Originals — is writing the Unfollow TV adaptation and will serve as an executive producer as well. Currently, Unfollow only has a script commitment from ABC. If the script meets with the network’s approval, however, a pilot order and casting call would be the next steps in the process.

Narducci may have access to upcoming scripts and full issues of Unfollow to write his adaptation. But if Unfollow gets picked up as a TV series and runs during Fall 2016 then it will quickly leap over its source material within a standard 13 to 22 episode season. By necessity, the TV incarnation of Unfollow may radically differ from the comic.

Are you intrigued by the premise of Unfollow? Who would you cast in the series? Let us know in the comments section below!

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HT: The Hollywood Reporter
Image Credit: Vertigo Comics