The new RoboCop television series is spinning up at Amazon, and the director James Wan (The Conjuring, Aquaman) has revealed that he’s been working with original movie director Paul Verhoeven on the project.
Wan was appearing at the BlumFest panel at New York Comic Con late last week, and ScreenRant reports that Wan confirmed the news, but didn’t expand on the role Verhoeven is playing in the wider creative process. Wan will direct several episodes of the series.
Verhoeven’s original is now considered a classic of its time. He turned down the sequel. He was also vocally critical of the 2014 reboot, which starred Joel Kinnaman in the title role, for not following his path of satire.
The original started out with a very different tone, and it was Verhoeven who was said to be largely responsible for the heavy satire of American culture, particularly capitalism. He also pushed for the extreme violence.
Co-creator and co-writer of the original, Ed Neumeier, is also an executive producer.
The new version will follow the original central concept – a giant tech conglomerate that controls the police force in the near future introduces a technologically advanced enforcer to combat rising crime. The officer is part man, part machine – RoboCop.
Unlike the original, in which lead character Alex Murphy was a cop to start with, this version is rumored to is rumored to be a soldier who died in combat before being “volunteered” to take part in the programme. Dan Stevens (The Guest) is cast in the lead.
RoboCop will feature eight episodes, and showrunner is Peter Ocko (Lodge 49).
