TV series adaptations of famous movies have a track record wobblier than the first episode of a season The Biggest Loser. For every awesome Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Stargate SG-1, Fargo and M*A*S*H*, we we get Timecop… and actually, Timecop is the only example I need; it’s crap enough for all the other crap shows.
And now another famous sci-fi film – admittedly one with a much more accomplished pedigree – is getting the TV adaptation treatment. Directing legend Steven Spielberg’s 2002 blockbuster classic Minority Report starred a very game Tom Cruise and Collin Farrell engaged in an incredible sci-fi cat and mouse game based on one of acclaimed author Phillip K. Dick’s most famous works. So, no pressure for this new TV version from Fox, which takes the clever route of not trying to swap out Cruise’s character some TV stand-in, but rather takes place in 2065, 10 years after the events of the movie.
This time around, Megan Good’s police detective Lara Vega is the lead and the Precrime Division, which prevented crime before it happened through the future predictions of Precogs – has been disbanded. And the focus is also now heavily on Stark Sands’ Dash, one of the original three Precogs from the film who has been split from the rest and now only receives fractions of his vision. And based on this first trailer for Minority Report, it looks like there’s potential there to really make this story work. Visual effects work has also come a long way since 2002, so the groundbreaking effects work seen in the original seem to be easily replicated here on a TV series budget. If the producers/writers, which includes Spielberg and Godzilla scribe Max Borenstein, can keep the weekly crimes interesting while building a solid overarching plot, then we may just have found the show to fill the flashy, high-value sci-fi gap left behind by Fringe a few years back.
Along with the trailer, Fox has also released this behind-the-scenes look at the production.
Minority Report is expected to debut in early 2016. Here’s the full official blurb:
“Minority Report” follows the unlikely partnership between a man haunted by the future and a cop haunted by her past, as they race to stop the worst crimes of the year 2065 before they happen. Set in Washington, D.C., it is 10 years after the demise of Precrime, a law enforcement agency tasked with identifying and eliminating criminals…before their crimes were committed. To carry out this brand of justice, the agency used three precogs – “precognitives” Dash, Arthur and Agatha – who were able to see the future.
Now, crime-solving is different, and justice leans more on sophisticated and trusted technology than on the instincts of the precogs. Precog Dash (Stark Sands, Inside Llewyn Davis) – driven by his terrifying, but fragmented visions – now has returned in secret to help a brash, but shrewd, police detective, Lara Vega (Meagan Good, Think Like a Man, “Californication”), attempt to stop the murders that he predicts. As they navigate this future America, they will search for Dash’s missing twin brother, Arthur, and elude others who will stop at nothing to exploit their precog abilities. Also complicating matters is Dash and Arthur’s ingenious, but reclusive, foster sister, Agatha (Laura Regan, “Mad Men,” Unbreakable), who just wants Dash to return home. A drama of crime and conspiracy, this is a timeless story of connection: two lost souls, Dash and Vega, who find friendship, purpose and redemption in each other.
Last Updated: May 12, 2015
Andre116
May 12, 2015 at 13:14
That looks pretty good.