John Boyega in ‘Breaking.’ Courtesy of Bleecker Street.
Preview:
- ‘Star Wars’ actor John Boyega is starring in a ‘Book of Eli’ prequel series.
- It’ll be set 30 years before the Denzel Washington movie.
- The film’s creative team is involved.
It would seem that there are few movies left that haven’t been explored in some prequel fashion, often in another medium. Just this week, for example, we’ll see the ‘Sexy Beast’ TV series that chronicles the earlier days of the characters in Jonathan Glazer’s 2000 crime thriller.
So it’s not surprising that memorable Denzel Washington post apocalyptic dramatic thriller ‘The Book of Eli’ would get the same treatment. And now we know that John Boyega, no stranger to genre after ‘Attack the Block’ and the ‘Star Wars’ sequel trilogy, will star as a younger version of the title character played by Washington.
“Some will kill to have it. He will kill to protect it.”
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1 hr 58 minJan 11th, 2010
What was the story of ‘The Book of Eli’?
Denzel Washington in ‘The Book of Eli.’ Photo: Warner Bros.
The neo-Western movie takes place thirty years after a nuclear catastrophe caused an ecocide. It revolves around Eli (Washington), a nomad who fights his way across a ravaged, post-apocalyptic America while protecting a sacred book that holds the secrets to humanity’s salvation.
Alongside Washington, the cast also included Gary Oldman, Mila Kunis, Ray Stevenson, Jennifer Beals and Tom Waits.
What’s the angle of ‘The Book of Eli’s TV prequel?
Denzel Washington in ‘The Book of Eli.’ Photo: Warner Bros.
Plot details are scarce at this early stage, but Deadline has heard it’ll be set 30 years before the movie’s storyline, so roughly around the time of the atomic attack that leads to its wasteland locales.
Who is making the new show?
John Boyega in ‘Breaking.’ Courtesy of Bleecker Street.
In addition to Boyega, who will produce as well as star, the series has the movie’s writer, Gary Whitta, aboard as creator, writer and executive producer, and would effectively be one of the people running the show.
Albert and Allen Hughes, who directed the movie, are aboard as executive producers.
Alcon Entertainment, the company which produced the movie, is backing the new show. But while Warner Bros. was the distributor, and you might think Warner Bros. Discovery might snap this up for HBO or its allied Max streaming service, it’s actually being shopped around to different buyers.
So while Max could still nab it, it may end up at Apple, Netflix or somewhere else entirely. Alcon, for example, has another TV project based on one of its movies, with a ‘Blade Runner’ series on the way from Prime Video, so that could be a destination (though the company may not want another apocalyptic series on its books with ‘Fallout’ already set for this year).
(L to R) Denzel Washington and Mila Kunis in ‘The Book of Eli.’ Photo: Warner Bros.
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