With some strong past projects from fans such as Babylon 5 and his upcoming Netflix series with the Wachkowskis called Sense8, J. Michael Straczynski is always working and doing something. Now he’s boarded one of the more quietly anticipated projects if it can be pulled off as it could be a fairly inspirational work with Red Mars. Picked up by Spike TV back in the fall, Staczynski is set to write the drama series for the network.
The series will be based on the Red Mars book, part of the trilogy of hard science fiction, which was written by Kim Stanley Robinson back in 1993. The novels have won Nebula and Hugo awards and have a solid fanbase out there. The plan is to work the same model as Game of Thrones in a way, naming it after the first book in the series, so it’s no surprise that one of the co-executive producers of that series is involved in this with Vince Gerardis. Whats’ welcome to see is that Robinson is being involved as a consultant on it.
“The heart of this series tackles the question of what it means to be human — and can we sustain our humanity under incredible duress,” said Sharon Levy, Spike TV’s EVP Original Series back in September.
Red Mars Concept: John Boone, Maya Toitavna, Frank Chalmers, and Arkady Bogdanov lead a mission whose ultimate goal is the terraforming of Mars. For some, Mars will become a passion driving them to daring acts of courage and madness; for others it offers and opportunity to strip the planet of its riches. And for the genetic “alchemists, ” Mars presents a chance to create a biomedical miracle, a breakthrough that could change all we know about life…and death.
The colonists place giant satellite mirrors in Martian orbit to reflect light to the planets surface. Black dust sprinkled on the polar caps will capture warmth and melt the ice. And massive tunnels, kilometers in depth, will be drilled into the Martian mantle to create stupendous vents of hot gases. Against this backdrop of epic upheaval, rivalries, loves, and friendships will form and fall to pieces–for there are those who will fight to the death to prevent Mars from ever being changed.
