Amazon recently made waves by canceling its period dramas and refocusing the efforts of its studio. Now, we have an early indication of what that new direction looks like, as Amazon has lined up three sci-fi properties as potential series: Lazarus, Snow Crash, and Ringworld. Variety was the first to report the news, while adding that Amazon is making “a significant production investment” on the three properties.
Lazarus is based on the comic book series by Greg Rucka and artist Michael Lark that takes place in an alternate future ruled by 16 rival families. The story follows Forever Carlyle, a warrior who represents her family’s interests as a “Lazarus,” which makes her nearly impossible to kill. Rucka and Lark will both executive produce the potential series, which will be written by Rucka.
Snow Crash offers a different vision of the future. As conceived by Neal Stephenson, Hiro Protagonist (Yes, that name is on the nose. That’s the point.) lives a double life. In the real world, he’s a pizza delivery man, but in the Metaverse (which is kind of a virtual reality internet), he’s a warrior. Within the story, Snow Crash is the name of a file that Hiro receives in the Metaverse, and it has dangerous implications for both of his worlds.
Finally, Ringworld is based upon Larry Niven‘s popular sci-fi novel series from the ’70s. The story revolves around a massive and artificially created world that encircles a star. In the first novel, a 200-year old man named Louis Gridley Wu and a young woman named Teela Brown are offered a chance to leave Earth behind and journey to Ringworld, where they will uncover its secrets.
All three of these series have breakout potential, and we’d love to see them all become a reality. Whether they can be Amazon’s answer to Game of Thrones remains to be seen, but we wouldn’t bet against this lineup.
What do you think about Amazon’s three potential sci-fi shows? Let us know in the comment section below.
Images: Image Comics/Bantam Books/Ballantine Books
Put your eyes on more sci-fi!
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- Learn about a Black Mirror short story collection.
