Amazon Pacts with Neil Gaiman, Doing Eco-Challenge with Mark Burnett

Amazon Studios has signed an overall TV deal with writer Neil Gaiman, in addition to working on an adaptation of the fantasy novels The Wheel of Time and teaming up with Mark Burnett for the competition series Eco-Challenge.

Gaiman, the creator of the highly anticipated Amazon original series Good Omens as well as American Gods, will exclusively work with Amazon Studios to create series that will premiere globally on Amazon Prime Video in more than 200 countries and territories.

“What decided me was how much I enjoyed working with the Amazon team on Good Omens,” said Gaiman. “They are smart, gloriously enthusiastic people, who weren’t afraid of Good Omens being different but who were as determined as I was to make something as unique and exciting as it is. I’m thrilled to know that I’ll have a home at Amazon in the future where I can make television that nobody’s seen before, that’s quite unlike Good Omens, but just as unusual and just as much fun.”

Amazon Studios has ordered the one-hour action fantasy The Wheel of Time to series, based on Robert Jordan’s best-selling fantasy novels that have sold more than 90 million copies worldwide. The series was adapted for TV by Rafe Judkins (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Chuck), who also serves as showrunner. It is co-produced by Amazon Studios and Sony Pictures Television. The Wheel of Time is set in a sprawling, epic world where magic exists, but only women can use it.

Additionally, Amazon Studios revealed plans for Eco-Challenge 2019, from MGM Television and prolific producer and Mark Burnett. The show will be hosted by survival and adventure phenom Bear Grylls. The ten-episode event series will pit teams of four competitors selected from around the world against each other and nature’s harsh elements in a grueling 24 hours a day, multi-day race. If one teammate quits, the entire team is disqualified. The 2019 location for the international epic adventure will be unveiled later this year.