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The Man Who Fell to Earth series coming to CBS All Access

By Wade Wainio

NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 25: Pictures of rock legend Davis Bowie line the walls of a New York City subway station on April 25, 2018 in New York City. Besides concert photos and commemorative fare cards issued in his honor, a giant black-and-white likeness of Bowie appears at the track entrance to Broadway-Lafayette station which is only blocks away from where the London-born rock star lived his final years. The installation, which is sponsored by Spotify, will be up until May 13 and is associated with the exhibition David Bowie at the Brooklyn Museum. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 25: Pictures of rock legend Davis Bowie line the walls of a New York City subway station on April 25, 2018 in New York City. Besides concert photos and commemorative fare cards issued in his honor, a giant black-and-white likeness of Bowie appears at the track entrance to Broadway-Lafayette station which is only blocks away from where the London-born rock star lived his final years. The installation, which is sponsored by Spotify, will be up until May 13 and is associated with the exhibition David Bowie at the Brooklyn Museum. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) /
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Originally a 1976 film starring David Bowie, The Man Who Fell to Earth series will offer a new, Steve Jobs-ish angle on aliens and technology.

Interesting news: Plans to create a series based on The Man Who Fell to Earth were recently announced by Julie McNamara, the EVP of Original Content for CBS All Access. According to Deadline, the series won’t center on Thomas Jerome Newton, the humanoid alien originally played by David Bowie in 1976.

Instead it will have “a new central alien character inspired by some of the biggest tech innovators of the past couple of decades including Jobs, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos.” Despite all that, it’s not yet clear how massive the alien’s ego will be. Deadline also notes that the project hit a creative snag: CBS Studios was allegedly not willing to co-produce The Man Who Fell to Earth with ABC Studios under Disney ownership for Hulu. Now, however, some of the dust has cleared, and the plans are more officially underway.

It will be directed by Alex Kurtzman. He is known for executive producing the 2009 Star Trek franchise, as well as co-writing the scripts to Transformers, Star Trek, Star Trek Into Darkness, and The Amazing Spider-Man 2. His television experience is rather expansive, too, being involved with Xena: Warrior Princess, Alias, Fringe, Sleepy Hollow and the upcoming Star Trek: Picard. His co-showrunners include Jenny Lumet and John Hlavin. Lumer is co-executive producer of Star Trek: Discovery, while Hlavin is known for creating Underworld Awakening, Shooter and Blood Drive.

The original The Man Who Fell to Earth

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The original film was directed by Nicolas Roeg and written by Paul Mayersberg, based on Walter Tevis’s 1963 novel. Rotten Tomatoes describes it as “a calm, meditative film that profoundly explores our culture’s values and desires.” Though it lacks universal acclaim, the film is often ranked among the best science fiction works of all time, apparently influencing sci-fi author Philip K. Dick (among others). It’s also notable for being David Bowie’s first starring film role, which certainly didn’t hurt his highly influential music career. Two other films were based on stories by Walter Tevis: The Hustler and The Color of Money.

What are your thoughts on The Man Who Fell to Earth? Let us know in the comments!

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