Interstellar's Jonah Nolan Developing Foundation Series for HBO, WBTV (Exclusive)
By Jeff Sneider
The Oscar-nominated Memento writer says everyone would benefit from reading the sci-fi trilogy
HBO and Warner Bros. TV are teaming to produce a series based on Isaac Asimov's Foundation trilogy that will be written and produced by Interstellar writer Jonathan Nolan, multiple individuals familiar with the project have told TheWrap.
Nolan, who is already working with HBO on Westworld, has been quietly developing the project for the last several months. He recently tipped his hand to Indiewire, which asked him, what's the one piece of science fiction you truly love that people don't know enough about?
Well, I ****ing love the Foundation novels by Isaac Asimov. They're certainly not well-known, but that's a set of books I think everyone would benefit from reading. That's a set of books where the influence they have is just ****ing massive. They have many imitators and many have been inspired by them, but go back and read those, and there are some ideas in those that'll set your ****ing hair on fire, Nolan told Indiewire.
Representatives for HBO and WBTV had no comment, while a representative for Nolan didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
Foundation follows mathematician Hari Seldon, who has dedicated his life to developing psychohistory, a concept that uses the laws of mass action to predict the future on a large scale. When he foresees the imminent fall of the Galactic Empire and a dark age that will last 30,000 years, he sets out to create a foundation of talented artisans and engineers to preserve and expand on humanity's collective knowledge with the hope of establishing a new empire.
The Foundation series was originally comprised of three books Foundation, Foundation and Empire and Second Foundation. The trilogy won a Hugo Award for Best All-Time series in 1966, 15 years before Asimov began adding to the series with sequels Foundation's Edge and Foundation and Earth, as well as prequels Prelude to Foundation and Forward the Foundation.
Sony Pictures acquired Foundation in a multi-studio auction back in 2009 and attached Roland Emmerich to direct and produce. Two years later, the studio hired Dante Harper (Akira) to adapt the books. When the project failed to materialize, HBO spent big bucks to acquire the property when it became available earlier this summer.
Nolan co-wrote Interstellar with his brother and longtime collaborator, director Christopher Nolan. Jonah Nolan also created the hit CBS series Person of Interest, and with wife Lisa Joy Nolan, co-wrote HBO's upcoming big-budget sci-fi pilot Westworld, which stars Anthony Hopkins, James Marsden, Evan Rachel Wood, Ed Harris, Thandie Newton and Jeffrey Wright.
Nolan, who has an overall deal with WBTV, is represented by WME and attorney Michael Schenkman.
