J.J. Abrams made waves when he signed a big lucrative development deal worth $500 million at WarnerMedia that would see future Bad Robot projects get developed at various divisions of the entertainment company. A new scripted series is now in development at Warner Bros. Television and sees Bad Robot moving more into the realm of biopics instead of the usual genre stuff they’re known for.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Bad Robot is developing a series that will focus on the Irish rock band, U2, which will be heading to Netflix. While it’s unclear what part of the band’s timeline the series will cover, as details weren’t mentioned in the report, they’ve been able to secure accomplished screenwriter Anthony McCarten.
The writer previously penned awards caliber films such as “The Theory of Everything“, “Darkest Hour,” “Bohemian Rhapsody,” and “The Two Popes.”
McCarten is considered an “acclaimed biographer,” however, many Queen fans were disappointed with “Bohemian Rhapsody” taking liberties with established real-life events, and also downplaying Freddie Mercury‘s homosexuality. Although, that could have easily been studio meddling to make the film more appealing to an audience in middle America, and given its box office success, it seemingly worked. We’ll be interested to see how accurate this U2 series will be.
READ MORE: JJ Abrams’ Bad Robot Developing New Supernatural Film ‘The Pinkerton’
Other things Bad Robot is developing include a string of DC Comics shows at HBO Max such as a revival of Guillermo del Toro‘s never-made “Justice League Dark,” featuring supernatural characters, alongside a “Constatine” reboot and “Madame X” solo series. Also, a direct “Cloverfield” sequel and a supernatural film, “The Pinkerton.”
While the assumption is that Abrams will simply produce, it’ll be interesting to see if he decids to direct episodes or not.
