ABC Develops New V Without Original Creator

peter noble · October 10th, 2008, 05:08 AM

SCI FI WIRE: ABC is developing a new adaptation of V, the 1980s miniseries about alien lizards visiting Earth, Variety reported.

The miniseries spawned a second mini and a TV spinoff, written by The 4400 co-creator and executive producer Scott Peters.

Warner Brothers TV, which was behind the original miniseries, is once again producing the project, which was sold as a spec script to ABC.

Peters is set to executive-produce, along with HDFilms principal Jace Hall.

Hall, the former head of Warner Brothers' video-game division, who has worked on titles including F.E.A.R., will help expand V into other platforms, including gaming.

The original V was an allegory of the Holocaust and Nazi Germany. Peters said he won't duplicate that concept, except that the new V will still focus on what happens when the masses have blind faith in their leaders.

The new V will center on Erica Evans, a Homeland Security agent with an aimless son who's got problems. When the aliens arrive, her son gloms on to them, causing tension within the family. As in the original V, several storylines will unfold simultaneously.

As in the '80s version, the show will open with an enormous army of spaceships hovering over the world's major cities.

Original V writer-producer-director Kenneth Johnson recently attempted to revive V as V: The Second Generation but is not involved in the Peters version.