‘Robopocalypse’ TV Show in the Works With Ron Howard, Akiva Goldsman

Imagine Entertainment and Weed Road are developing a series based on the 2011 book by Daniel H. Wilson, with Imagine’s Ron Howard attached to direct the pilot and Weed Road’s Akiva Goldsman set to showrun and write the pilot. No network or streamer is yet involved.

The book shot to fame in the early 2010s when Steven Spielberg optioned it to direct even before it was published, with a draft of the script written by Drew Goddard. Spielberg flirted with the book for years, with Anne Hathaway and Chris Hemsworth attached to star. Spielberg eventually postponed the project indefinitely in 2014, with Michael Bay coming aboard in 2018 to direct. That version didn’t get made either.

Now, Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment will exec produce the show. Imagine’s Brian Grazer and Jeb Brody and Weed Pictures’ Greg Lessans and Rachel Wizenberg will lead the development with Goldsman and Howard.

The novel is more relevant than ever amid current fears of AI causing the death of humanity. It centers on humanity’s war against robots controlled by a powerful AI, and per the logline: “Not far into our future, the dazzling technology that runs our world turns against us. At Zero Hour—the moment the robots attack—the human race is almost annihilated, but as its scattered remnants regroup, humanity for the first time unites in a determined effort to fight back. Brilliantly conceived and amazingly detailed, Robopocalypse is an action-packed epic with chilling implications about the real technology that surrounds us.”

“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,” said Howard in a statement. “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.”

Howard and Goldsman are longtime collaborators, dating back to the film A Beautiful Mind, which won Howard best director and best picture Oscars, and nabbed Goldsman the best adapted screenplay statue. They also spent time developing another popular project for the screen, Stephen King’s Dark Tower, which became a movie and had designs to spinoff into a TV show that didn’t come to fruition.