J.J. Abrams Sci-Fi Drama ‘Demimonde’ Lands Series Order With HBO
J.J. Abrams' schedule is about to get even more packed, as his hot new project just landed at HBO.
Enter the Demimonde
The sci-fi drama, intriguingly titled Demimonde, has been picked up for a full series. It will be a co-production between Warner Bros. TV, Abrams' studio Bad Robot, and HBO.
The show, written by Abrams, is reportedly an "epic, intimate, sci-fi-fantasy drama." Sources previously revealed that the story surrounds a worldwide fight against a significant, and possibly, supernatural force.
The word demimonde means half-world in French. It comes from Alexandre Dumas' Le Demi-Monde. It describes a smaller world that is part of a larger one and, usually, refers to a hedonism of some sort.
Abrams will serve as the show's executive producer alongside Bad Robot's Ben Stephenson, who runs the TV division of the company. Demimonde's showrunner is yet to be announced.
The super-hot spec script has been knocking around for a while, with Apple making a serious bid for it previously. Considering Abrams' existing relationship with HBO, there was widespread assumption that Demimonde would eventually land at the premium-cable network.
A Growing Partnership
The series joins Westworld and the upcoming Lovecraft Country, which is executive-produced by Get Out director Jordan Peele, at HBO. Demimonde will be the third collaboration between Abrams and the cabler. Bad Robot reportedly has other projects in the works with HBO, including space drama Glare.
Meanwhile, Mega-hit Westworld is returning for a second season next year. The Bad Robot sci-fi series was a massive success with both critics and fans, in spite of some issues during production, including a month-long hiatus midway through.
Demimonde is the first series solely created by Abrams since the hit ABC drama Alias in 2001. He has since co-created and written another hit show, Fringe, which premiered on Fox in 2008.
Aside from its collaborations with HBO, Bad Robot has other TV projects in the works. The psychological-horror series Castle Rock will screen exclusively on Hulu this summer.
The series is executive produced by the master of horror himself, Stephen King. Abrams' next big project, movie-wise, is Star Wars: Episode IX, due at Christmastime in 2019.
Abrams wrote and directed the first installment in the new trilogy, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, before handing the reins over to Rian Johnson for The Last Jedi. He will close out the trilogy with the as yet untitled Episode IX.
