After splitting ways with Warner Bros. and DC Films over Batgirl, Joss Whedon has landed on his feet at HBO with a new science-fiction drama, The Nevers. Whedon will write, direct, executive produce, and act as showrunner for the project.
Variety reports the series is “described as a sci-fi epic about a gang of Victorian women who find themselves with unusual abilities, relentless enemies, and a mission that might change the world.”
HBO’s programming president Casey Bloys is excited to work with Whedon on the upcoming project:
“We have long been fans of the incredibly talented and prolific Joss Whedon and we can’t think of a better project than ‘The Nevers’ with which to welcome him to the HBO family. We look forward to meeting the strange, multifaceted characters of ‘The Nevers,’ to learn their stories, see them in action and share them with our viewers. We’re honored that Joss chose HBO as the place to build his ambitious new world and we are excited to get started.”
Variety also reports that HBO beat out Netflix for the series in a competitive bidding situation. Whedon chose HBO and elaborated on why he went with them:
“I honestly couldn’t be more excited. The Nevers’ is maybe the most ambitious narrative I’ve created, and I can’t imagine a better home for it than HBO. Not only are they the masters of cinematic long-form, but their instant understanding of my odd, intimate epic was as emotional as it was incisive. It’s been too long since I created an entirely new fictional world, and the HBO team offer not just scope and experience, not just ‘prestige,’ but a passionate collaboration. I could go on, but — I’m impatiently grateful to say — I have work to do.”
Whedon is right. It has been quite a bit since he created a new fictional world. The last fictional world Whedon created was on Fox’s The Dollhouse which premiered on February 13, 2009 and was cancelled on November 11, 2009. Since then Whedon has been playing other people’s sandboxes most notably with Marvel’s The Avengers and Avengers: Age of Ultron as well as a number of episodes of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. He also split directing duties with Zack Snyder on DC’s Justice League movie.
Whedon has created some of the best television shows over the past two decades including Firefly, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Angel. However, he’s recently found himself under the gun after his ex-wife wrote an op-ed about him and he’s been extremely vocal about his dislike for President Donald Trump even calling for his death at one point.
Will you be checking out Whedon’s latest TV series at HBO?