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Don't panic! Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy to invade Hulu as TV series
What's the meaning to life, the universe, and everything? 42, of course! Deadline confirmed today that Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy novels will find new life on Hulu as a TV show. The project is being developed by the duo of Carlton Cuse (Lost, Locke & Key) and feature writer Jason Fuchs (Wonder Woman, Ice Age: Continental Drift).
An ingenious mixture of science fiction and absurdist comedy, Adams' books are about Arthur Dent, a nebbishy human man who goes on all kinds of strange interstellar adventures when Earth is unceremoniously demolished to make way for an alien bypass. The title refers to a handy encyclopedic guidebook that aids one traversing the cosmos. Ford Prefect—Arthur’s neighbor and friend, who’s also secretly an alien—first introduces Arthur/readers to the concept and explains that the guidebook is constantly being updated with tips, tricks, and practices by individuals hitching rides among the stars.
According to the report, Cuse and Fuchs will write, produce, and showrun the series, which will update the source material for the modern era. In terms of what they'll be drawing from, there are a total of six books in the Hitchhiker series. That being said, the sixth and final entry (published in 2009) was written by Artemis Fowl author Eoin Colfer, who had the blessing of Adams' widow, Jane Belson.
A film adaptation of the property was released in 2005 by the Disney-owned Buena Vista Pictures. Directed by Garth Jennings, the movie boasted an all-star cast of Sam Rockwell, Mos Def, Zooey Deschanel, Martin Freeman, Bill Nighy, Anna Chancellor, and John Malkovich. Despite the movie being a moderate success with critics and at the box office, a sequel was never made. However, interpretations of the novels have also been produced for theater, radio, video games, comics, and even a short-lived TV show on the BBC in 1981.
The project falls under the purview ABC Signature, a streaming/cable branch of ABC Studios where Cuse and his production company, Genre Arts, have a first-look deal. Fuchs is penning the pilot script.
