Mars Book Trilogy Gets Series Order from Spike

NEW YORK: Spike has given a straight-to-series order for an original TV adaptation of Kim Stanley Robinson’s award-winning Mars book trilogy.

Red Mars, Green Mars and Blue Mars chronicle mankind’s colonization and transformation of the red planet. The books have been adapted in 21 languages.

The 10×1-hour Red Mars series will be executive produced and written by J. Michael Straczynski, whose works include Sense8, Babylon Five and Changeling. The straight-to-series project will be executive produced by Vince Gerardis (Game of Thrones, Flash Forward), who brought the project to Spike and has shepherded development, along with Skydance’s David Ellison, Dana Goldberg and Marcy Ross.

“The heart and soul of Red Mars is about humanity,” said Sharon Levy, the executive VP of original series at Spike. “This group of strangers must find a way to live together and survive under the most daunting conditions mankind has ever faced to become the first living generation of martians. They will be each other’s greatest source of strength—and if they can’t coexist, the greatest reason for failure.”

“We are thrilled to join forces with Spike to bring Kim Stanley Robinson’s dynamic world of the Mars trilogy to television audiences for the first time ever, particularly in the brilliant creative voice of science-fiction legend J. Michael Straczynski,” added Marcy Ross, the president of Skydance Television.

“I look forward to being a part of bringing my long-time client’s literary achievement to the screen,” said Gerardis. “Its themes are important to the future we are creating.”