Blumhouse CEO Jason Blum has provided an ambitious update on the plannedUpgradetelevision series. Based on the superb cyberpunk action movie from 2018 directed by Leigh Whannell and starring Logan Marshall-Green, Blum has revealed that scripts are now being worked on, with Blum holding out for straight-to-series order.
“Upgradeshould have been a wide release. I was p*ssed about that. We’re working on a TV show. So working on the scripts. This first round didn’t come out. I didn’t get the response I wanted to get. I don’t want to be in development. I want an order. We’re working on the scripts again, so that we can get an order. And I don’t want to develop it.”
Aspiring to a straight-to-series order is nothing if not hopeful, but Blum sounds determined to get to what he wants, refusing to accept anything less. The man behind the celebrated studioBlumhouseis clearly eager to get the series going and expand on the world ofUpgradefirst introduced back in 2018.
Written and directed byInsidiousandThe Invisible Man’s Leigh Whannell, whosigned an overall deal with Blumhouse, and starring Logan Marshall-Green, Betty Gabriel, and Harrison Gilbertson,Upgradefollows Marshall-Green as Grey, a technophobe, who after a brutal mugging is left paralyzed in the hospital with his beloved wife murdered. A mysterious billionaire inventor soon offers Trace a cure for what ails him in the form of an artificial intelligence implant called STEM that will enhance his body. With his mobility now restored and then some, as Grey finds that he also has superhuman strength and agility, the wronged man decides to use his skills to seek revenge against the thugs who destroyed his life.
Produced byJason Blum, under his Blumhouse Productions banner,Upgradewas praised by critics for its high-concept, gritty sci-fi world, sense of humor, and the central performance, and in particular physical performance, of lead Logan Marshall-Green. While the movie did not light up the box office (as it wasn’t really given the chance to), debuting slightly above estimates with $4.6 million in its limited release,Upgradewas well-liked by audiences which led to the idea of branching theTwilight Zone/Black Mirror-esque world off onto the small screen.
Not too much is yet known about the direction of theplanned television series, but it has been revealed that it will pick up a few years after the events of the movie. The central idea of the show is to broaden the universe with an evolved version of STEM, the same advanced computer chip technology that was introduced in the movie, bringing in a new host, and imagining a world in which the government repurposes STEM to help stop criminal activity. Whether the series would answer any questions left by the movie’s brutal cliff-hanger ending remains to be seen.
TheUpgradeseries has recruited Tim Walsh (Treadstone,Shooter), who will co-create the show alongside Leigh Whannell, who is also set to serve as showrunner. Walsh will also be an executive producer. At present, no network is attached to the show. This comes to us courtesy ofCollider.
