Roland Emmerich, the director/producer of the apocalyptic film 2012 (opening Nov. 13), confirmed to EW exclusively that a small-screen version of the end-of-the-world movie is already in the works. Emmerich said there was “plenty to do in a TV show” and that 2012 executive producer Mark Gordon – who’s also an exec producer on TV shows like Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice - would be attached.
“The plan is that it is 2013 and it’s about what happens after the disaster,” Emmerich told EW while walking the red carpet for the 2012 premiere Tuesday. “It is about the resettling of Earth. That is very, very fascinating. (2012 writer/producer) Harald Kloser and I came up with the idea and we have the luxury of having a producer on the film who is a big TV producer, Mark Gordon. We said to Mark, ‘Why don’t you do a TV show that picks up where the movie leaves off and call it 2013?’ I think it will focus on a group of people who survived but not on the boats … maybe they were on a piece of land that was spared or one that became an island in the process of the crust moving. There are so many possibilities of what they could do and I’d be excited to watch it.”
Word in Hollywood is that Gordon has already entered talks with ABC to develop the disaster drama. Though Gordon wouldn’t confirm this, he did tell EW that ABC “will have an opening in their disaster-related programming after Lost ends” (An ABC spokeswoman declined to comment). “I think people would be interested in this topic on a weekly basis,” Gordon said, who also attended Tuesday’s premiere. “There’s hope for the world despite the magnitude of the 2012 disaster as seen in the film. After the movie, there are some people who survive and the question is how will these survivors build a new world and what will it look like. That might make an interesting TV series.”
Added Emmerich, “The movie talks about the varied reactions people have in the face of disaster and who should survive and how we carry on and what parts of our culture do we save. The TV show could carry on all that.” – With reporting from Carrie Bell
Photo Credit: Sara De Boer/Retna Ltd.
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Blecch. Hopefully this will have the same fate as Van Helsing: The TV Series (aka “Transylvania”).
Smart idea taking an already horrible looking movie and making it into a tv show.
and the comical part is that it seems theyre expecting this to replace LOST once its done.
hahahaha thats hilarious.
So the world doesn’t end? Blech! This movie looks like a depressing romp through a bog of endless doo doo.
Pass!
Sounds like crap to me, we don’t need more like this. besides ABC is already doing Flash Forward, and Lost doesn’t need to be redone or replaced with similar.
I don’t know about you, but I think they just gave the end of the movie away. Dumbass!
You can’t honestly tell you me you expected EVERYONE to die in the movie…
i did… and i WAS going to see it with that hope in my mind…
when did you ever see John Cusack die in any of his movies ? ( He’s indestructable )
I didn’t think everyone was going to die, but I also didn’t know how they were planning on having survivors. But I guess a boat makes sense, once the waves calm down and don’t go around tossing aircraft carriers into the White House.
Although it was a nuclear incident, I have the feeling there will be similarities between this and Jericho, which I loved. But like the rest of you guys, I will probably pass…
Jericho was awesome. I still miss it. I get the feeling this will not come close to replacing it.
I was also thinking it sounded like a bad Jericho.
thanks for giving away the ending of your movie in the interview Roland!
So…people escape on boats. That still doesn’t explain why the whole crust of the Earth seems to have a tidal wave under it in the preview or how Adam Lambert got to be so awesome. I think I’ll still watch.
hahahaaaaa. I haven;t figured it out either, but then again I didn’t watch AI
If the Mayan supposedly predicted 2012, how come they missed on Cortez?
Haha…Bill Maher!
WOW…BEST TV IDEA EVER!!! That is, if the casting is right,the writing is amazing and its done well!!
Are you being serious? It is hard to tell when it is typed. I hope like hell that you are kidding.
You just described NBC’s “Day One”… me thinks you’ll like it!
Uh I think these people are missing the point of the mayan prophecy. IT was the END of the world, meaning death meaning there is no 2013.
This move looks just as bad as The Day After Tomorrow, why would I want to watch it on TV?
There is no Mayan prophecy. The Mayans only come into it because that’s when their calendar ends. Which is stupid, because our calendar ends every year on December 31 and no one worries about it.
The Mayans couldn’t even predict their own demise. 2012 is just the end of a cycle.
Well, now I do.
Oh Really?A Tv show about 2012?When is that going to happen?
I’m embarassed to admit that I LOVE crap like this! I’m really looking forward to “2012″, and I’d watch “2013″… at least for a few episodes!
I’m with you, I love these type of movies. I watch them all, disaster, apocalyptic, zombie movies, if it has action, I love them. The type of movies I hate are the chickflicks, they are mindless drivel.
It’s true, I can’t wait till this movie comes out. I could care less about the storyline, all I’m motivated to see is just a load of destruction. Obviously, this movie isn’t going to be Oscar worthy and I think Roland intended not to be, but all of you guys making such a big deal about how bad of a movie it’s going to be, why can’t you let us disaster loving freaks enjoy our moment of glory? It’s all for fun anyway, right?
Im looking forward to 2012, I think it looks like an awesome movie, I love Independence day and the Day After Tommorow I have yet to watch but to see the whole world go down like that looks amazing. Not everything is award material, I dont know why we have critics its personal preference anyway how you grade a movie.
I love them too! And forget about all the prententious jerks who judge us for wanting to see a movie they haven’t seen, yet feel they can already say it is horrible.
It would be a good show for a while, but what would happen when 2012 passes. If it’s still running, it wouldn’t make sense!
We still listen to Prince’s 1999, don’t we?
And I party harder every year….