The trailer for EPIX’s ‘War of the Worlds’ is here! This new version of H.G. Wells’ invasion horror was developed by Howard Overman (‘Misfits’), and Canal Plus, Fox Networks Group Europe and Africa, and AGC Television. There will be eight episodes, with Richard Clark directing four and Gilles Coulier helming the other four. Gabriel Byrne and Elizabeth McGovern head up the cast, which also includes Léa Drucker, Adel Bencherif, Emilie de Preissac, Natasha Little, Daisy Edgar Jones, Ty Tennant, Bayo Gbadamosi, Stephen Campbell Moore, Stéphane Caillard, and Aaron Heffernan. This iteration of ‘War of the Worlds’ is set mainly in France, and coincidentally (?) it was released in France in October. Fox has already ordered a second season.
When astronomers detect a transmission from another galaxy, it is definitive proof of intelligent extraterrestrial life. The world’s population waits for further contact with bated breath. They do not have to wait long. Within days, mankind is all but wiped out by a devastating attack; pockets of humanity are left in an eerily deserted world.
As aliens hunt and kill those left alive, the survivors ask a burning question – who are these attackers, and why are they hell-bent on our destruction? Emotional, cinematic, and rooted in character, it is a unique marriage of human drama and the best science fiction.
This is a story of ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances – but they are more than just victims in a brutal war. For, as we will come to realize, the aliens’ savage attack on earth is not arbitrary: its seeds are being sown before our very eyes.
Check out the new trailer below:
This is not to be confused with another, different adaptation of ‘War of the Worlds’ which was presented in three parts on the BBC in November/December of last year. That version was set in Edwardian England and was written by Peter Harness, directed by Craig Viveiros, and starred Eleanor Tomlinson, Rafe Spall, Rupert Graves, Nicholas Le Prevost, Harry Melling, Jonathan Aris, and Robert Carlyle. That miniseries hasn’t been released in the US yet.
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The H.G. Wells novel was originally published in 1898 and has been adapted many times into various forms. Perhaps most famously, in 1938, Orson Wells used it as the basis for his now-infamous radio broadcast, which fooled the population into believing that Earth really had been invaded by aliens. It was also turned into a big-budget film in 2005, directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Tom Cruise.
This new take on ‘War of the Worlds’ arrives on EPIX on February 16, 2020. It will be released in the UK on March 5.
Are you looking forward to this modern interpretation of ‘War of the Worlds’?
Source: ComicBook.com