EXCLUSIVE: John Birmingham’s World War II alternate history book trilogy Axis of Time is set for a television adaptation.
Luke Sparke, the Australian writer/director behind the sci-fi feature franchise Occupation, has optioned the rights via his Sparke Films banner and will write the adaptation.
Weapons of Choice, the first book in the series was published by Macmillan in 2004, and the trilogy deals with a radical rip in the fabric of time when a technologically advanced naval task force from the near future is accidentally transported back through time to 1942, landing in the middle of WWII.
The series will feature all three books, including Designated Targets and Final Impact.
The project is a collaboration between Sparke and co-writer Jay Thames, who appeared in Sons of Anarchy. Carly Imrie and Carmel Imrie will produce, alongside Trimax Media’s Alan Glazier (Get Smart) and Zachary Garred (Occupation Rainfall).
The books begin when a military experiment in the near future has thrust an American-led multinational armada back to 1942, right into the middle of the U.S. naval task force speeding toward Midway Atoll, and what was to be the most spectacular U.S. triumph of the entire war. Thousands die in the chaos, but the changes in the time space continuum have only begun. The veterans of Pearl Harbor, led by Admiral Spruance, have never seen a helicopter, or a satellite link, or a nuclear weapon. And they’ve never encountered an African American colonel or a mixed-race female British naval commander. While they embrace the armada’s awesome firepower, they may find the twenty-first century sailors themselves far from acceptable.
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Initial jubilation at news the Allies would win the war is quickly doused by the chilling realization that the time travelers themselves, by their very presence, have rendered history null and void. Celebration turns to dread when the possibility arises that other elements of the twenty-first century may have also made the trip, and might now be aiding Yamamoto and the Japanese.
Author Birmingham said, “I am stoked to see Luke and his crew turn this favorite, much loved story into something new and madly exciting. His Occupation films are enormous fun and his plans to blast Weapons of Choice onto the screen promise even more. More fun, more action, more head-spinning concepts and adventures. I’ve always had a movie of this series running somewhere in my head and reading his script, seeing the artwork, it was like it suddenly exploded all around me.”
“When I read John’s Weapons of Choice on its release back in 2004, I knew immediately it would make an amazing TV series. That book and the subsequent trilogy became my Catcher in the Rye. When I reached out to John with my ideas, I got to work developing the first season. Five years later, we have a series that is extremely relevant and timely with everything going on in the world. There’s never been a better time to look back on our history and see how far we have come, let alone throwing our current culture 80 years back in time and see the two worlds collide. This series is very dear to my heart and will developed for the screen with loving care,” added Sparke.
Luke Sparke is repped by Seth Nagel Management and John Birmingham by Russell Scovil Galen Ghosh Literary Agency.
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