Less than a year after Netflix purchased Mark Millar‘s Millarworld banner, the streaming service has announced the first projects from that imprint and it’s pretty ambitious. There will be two interconnected TV shows– ‘Jupiter’s Legacy’ and ‘American Jesus’, as well as three films, ‘Empress’, ‘Huck’ and ‘Sharkey the Bounty Hunter’.
First, from ‘Daredevil”s Steven S. DeKnight comes ‘Jupiter’s Legacy’:
A multi-generational American superhero epic, [that] follows the world’s first generation of superheroes who received their powers in the 1930’s. In present day they are the revered elder guard, but their superpowered children struggle to live up to the legendary feats of their parents.
DeKnight serves as showrunner and executive producer. He will also direct the pilot episode. Also attached as executive producers are Lorenzo di Bonaventura (the ‘Transformers’ franchise, ‘Shooter’ the TV series) and Dan McDermott (‘Zero Hour’). ‘Jupiter’s Legacy’ will consist of eight episodes. Netflix is eyeing this as “the crown jewel” of its Millarworld brand, with the possibility that the various superheroes could potentially be spun off into solo series or movies.
‘American Jesus’ will be multilingual, in English and Spanish. It is set for six episodes and is based on the comic book ‘Chosen’.
‘American Jesus’ follows a twelve-year-old boy who suddenly discovers he’s returned as Jesus Christ. He can turn water into wine, make the crippled walk, and, perhaps, even raise the dead! How will he deal with the destiny to lead the world in a conflict thousands of years in the making?
Everardo Gout (‘Luke Cage’) and Leopoldo Gout (‘Molly’s Game’) will serve as co-showrunners and executive produce. Everardo Gout will direct the pilot.
The first movie, ‘Empress’ comes from writer Lindsey Beer (‘Kingkiller Chronicle’). Joe Roth and Jeff Kirschenbaum (‘Maleficent’, ‘xXx: The Return of Xander Cage’) are producing. No director has been announced. At one point, Anne Hatheway was attached to star, but that was a while ago.
Queen Emporia is married to (literally) the worst dictator in the galaxy, King Morax. After escaping his palace with her children, Emporia and her family must hide from Morax and his army at all costs — even if it takes teleporting from planet to planet to avoid them.
‘Huck’ will be adapted by Ted Melfi (‘Hidden Figures’), with Neal H. Moritz (‘The Boys’) and Toby Jaffe (the ‘Total Recall’ remake) serving as producers.
In a quiet seaside town, Huck uses his special gifts to do a good deed each day. His neighbors return the favors by keeping his abilities a secret. But when a newcomer alerts the media, a firestorm erupts, sending Huck on an adventure that will change everything.
Finally, ‘Sharkey The Bounty Hunter’ is based on an as-yet unpublished comic coming from the Millarworld/Netflix imprint. Michael Bacall (the ’21 Jumpstreet’ films) will adapt it to its screenplay form.
Set in a brilliant new sci-fi universe, Sharkey is a blue-collar bounty-hunter tracking criminals across the galaxy in his converted, rocket-powered ice-cream truck. Aided and abetted by his ten-year-old partner, he’s out for the biggest bounty of his career.
As Millar expressed:
“My wife Lucy and I are eleven months into our jobs at Netflix and it’s everything we hoped for to the power of ten. To see a movie based on your work every couple of years is incredibly exciting, but to see them all happening at once like this and with talent this high-end is just off the scale. These are writers and directors I’ve privately been sending fan mail to over the last 18 months, so to be working with them all is just enormously exciting. This really is the greatest creative environment I’ve ever worked in. I can’t wait to switch on my computer every morning.”
Source: Deadline
