By Ben Travis | Posted 21 Feb 2018

As TV budgets continue to soar, huge fictional worlds are being conjured on the small screen in epic detail — and now Amazon has confirmed its plans to launch a vibrant all-out space opera on its Prime Video streaming service.

Amazon Studios will adapt Consider Phlebas, the first in Iain M. Banks’ epic book series about futuristic interstellar utopian society The Culture. The novels and short stories span a huge amount of time within a shared universe — the latest instalment, 2012’s The Hydrogen Sonata, is set approximately 1000 years after Consider Phlebas, chronologically the first Culture story — giving plenty of scope if Amazon ends up with a Game of Thrones-esque hit on its hands.

The protagonist of Consider Phlebas is Horza, a rogue agent of “deeply religious, warlike race” the Idirans, who are engaged in an all-out war with the Culture. Horse’s on a mission to find a lost Culture ‘Mind’, an advanced AI which could help the Idirans wipe out the Culture once and for all.

“The story of the Culture is so rich and captivating that for years Hollywood has been trying to bring this utopian society to life on the screen,” Amazon Studios’ Head of Scripted Series, Sharon Tal Yguado, said. “We are honoured that we have been chosen, along with Dennis Kelly and Plan B Entertainment, to make Consider Phlebas into a television series we think will be loved by fans for years to come.”

There’s no word on when the series will arrive — the global rights have only just been acquired, so that’s a long way off — but the show will be produced by Plan B, and adapted by Utopia writer Dennis Kelly.

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