Alex Rider Series Heads to TV With Sony, Eleventh Hour

By Stewart Clarke

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Teenage superspy Alex Rider’s exploits are coming to the small screen after Sony and British producer Eleventh Hour Films teamed up for an eight-episode adaptation of “Point Blanc,” the second book in Anthony Horowitz’s young-adult series. The show will follow reluctant spy Rider as he infiltrates a controversial correctional academy for the wayward offspring of the ultra-rich. Acting as an an unofficial agent for MI6, he investigates the sinister purpose of the academy.

Drama indie Eleventh Hour optioned the Rider books and created a spec series project that has now boarded. Sony Pictures Television’s international production and worldwide distribution divisions, under Wayne Garvie and Keith Le Goy, respectively, will work on the project. A Rider series was originally being developed for ITV , but the U.K. broadcaster is no longer on board. Sony will fully fund and look for broadcaster or platform partners.

BAFTA award-winning screenwriter Guy Burt has adapted “Point Blanc” for TV. Horowitz’s book was first published in 2001, and his 12th Rider novel, “Nightshade,” will be published next year. Horowitz wrote the screenplay for 2006 feature film “: Stormbreaker” and will exec produce the “Point Blanc” series.

“So many Alex Rider fans have been asking me when he would be returning to the screen – and I couldn’t be more excited that it’s finally happening,” Horowtiz said. “Guy Burt has perfectly captured the danger and excitement of the books, and I’m sure the series will have universal appeal.”

Sony is looking to break into the young-adult space, recently inking a deal with YA specialist Komixx. “We identified Alex Rider some time ago as we were looking for the right project to take this leap, and we’re thrilled it has come together as our very first spec series,” Garvie and Le Goy said in a joint statement.

Burt and Eleventh Hour’s Eve Gutierrez and Jill Green will also exec produce. Gutierrez said: “The combination of Guy Burt’s brilliant character-driven scripts and the legacy of ’s books gives us all the ingredients for a truly distinctive spy drama.”

The project sees some familiar partners working together. Sony and Eleventh Hour are working on UFO sightings drama series “ Rendlesham .” Eleventh Hour is run by Green, whose former shingle, Greenlit, made ITV dramas “Foyle’s War” and “Collision,” which were penned by Horowitz.