‘Brave New World’ Ordered Straight-to-Series at USA Network

By Joe Otterson

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – The series adaptation of Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World,” but not at the network that originally commissioned it.

USA Network has given the project a straight-to-series order. The project had originally been in development at fellow NBCUniversal network Syfy. The adaptation was first announced in 2015 .

David Wiener has joined the project, joining previously announced writers Grant Morrison, and Brian Taylor. Wiener will serve as showrunner and executive producer, with Morrison also executive producing. Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey of Amblin Television will also executive produce. Owen Harris will direct the first episode and executive produce. Taylor will executive produce the first episode and serve as a consultant moving forward. Universal Content Productions will produce in association with Amblin.

“” imagines a utopian society that has achieved peace and stability through the prohibition of monogamy, privacy, money, family, and history itself. As citizens of New London, Bernard Marx and Lenina Crowne have only ever known a rigid social order, a perfect pharmaceutical called Soma, and a culture of instant gratification and ubiquitous sex. Curious to explore life beyond the strictures of their society, the two New Worlders embark on a vacation to the Savage Lands, where they become embroiled in a harrowing and violent rebellion. Bernard and Lenina are rescued by John the Savage, who escapes with them back to New London. John’s arrival in the New World soon threatens to disrupt its utopian harmony, leaving Bernard and Lenina to grapple with the repercussions. The three become entwined in a fraught relationship that awakens them to the dangers of their own conditioning.

There have previously been plans to adapt the novel as a film, while it has been adapted twice as a television film.

This is the latest series order for USA in recent months. The cabler has also ordered the dramas: “Treadstone,” set in the Jason Bourne universe; “Dare Me,” based on the novel by Meagan Abbot; and the anthology “Briarpatch” starring Rosario Dawson. USA also recently ordered a ninth and final season of “Suits”–though the spinoff “Pearson” debuts in the summer–and has “Mr. Robot” returning for a fourth and final season later this year.