According to a press release issued by NBC-owned Syfy, the cable channel has announced its intention to produce an "event series" (read: miniseries) adaptation of Dan Simmons’ 1989 sci-fi novel Hyperion.

Long regarded as a tentpole of modern science fiction, Hyperion starts out as a sci-fi take on The Canterbury Tales, featuring a main cast of seven characters brought together on a pilgrimage to the dwelling of an inscrutable killing machine called "The Shrike." The book is the first in a loose series, being followed by its direct sequel Fall of Hyperion, and then two other books set hundreds of years later, Endymion and Rise of Endymion. The series is collectively referred to as "The Hyperion Cantos."

"Set on the eve of Armageddon with the entire galaxy at war, Hyperion is the story of seven pilgrims who set forth on a voyage to seek the answers to the unsolved riddles of their lives," reads the press release. "Each carries a desperate hope and a terrible secret—while one may hold the fate of humanity in his hands."

The adaptation will be produced by American Sniper’s Bradley Cooper, who according to Screenrant cowrote a spec script for the project back in 2011. Joining Cooper as executive producers will be Graham King (Argo, The Departed) and Todd Phillips (The Hangover). Boardwalk Empire writer Itamar Moses will be penning the script.

The press release doesn’t specifically state how much of the tetralogy will make it into the series. Only the first book is named, but the first book ends on somewhat of a cliffhanger, so it seems logical that the miniseries will tell the mostly self-contained story that spans the first two books, Hyperion and Fall of Hyperion. Even if only those two books are featured, the production promises to be complex: the story takes place in the far future and involves points of view and characters on more than a dozen different worlds. Most of the first book is spent in flashbacks as each of the seven pilgrims tells his or her tale, while the second book focuses on a galaxy- and dimension-spanning tripartite war. Heavily woven throughout the series are allusions to the works of poet John Keats, including the eponymous Keats poem "Hyperion."

No solid production date is set and no cast have yet been signed, but we’ll be watching this one with interest.