While I’m sure we all wish that J. Michael Straczynski was announcing more news on his ‘Babylon 5’ reboot movie, I’m still happy to share that he has more science fiction up his sleeve!

Spike TV is bringing us a televised take of the ‘Red Mars’ series by Kim Stanley Robinson. These books follow the terraforming of Mars and its colonization once it can sustain humanity. This is one of the more famous set of science fiction novels and I’m dying to hear more details on it. Last October Spike TV began to push forward on it with Vince Gerardis (‘Game of Thrones’) set to produce the show. With these two working on the series there is a high potential for something epic . I am eager to see what they put together. It should be both well written and a visual treat.

If the names of those involved aren’t enough for fans of the books, you’ll be happy to know that Robinson himself is a consultant for the series. I can’t stress enough how excited I am at the potential for the show! No word at this point on a release date or casting, but I’m sure that will start being announced over the coming year.

While the series draws its name from the first book, it should be safe to assume that if ratings are strong we’ll see ‘Red Mars,’ ‘Green Mars,’ and ‘Blue Mars’ all adapted to the small screen.

Novel Synopsis:

For eons, sandstorms have swept the barren desolate landscape of the red planet. For centuries, Mars has beckoned to mankind to come and conquer its hostile climate. Now, in the year 2026, a group of one hundred colonists is about to fulfill that destiny. John Boone, Maya Toitavna, Frank Chalmers, and Arkady Bogdanov lead a mission whose ultimate goal is the terraforming of Mars. For some, Mars will become a passion driving them to daring acts of courage and madness; for others it offers and opportunity to strip the planet of its riches. And for the genetic “alchemists, ” Mars presents a chance to create a biomedical miracle, a breakthrough that could change all we know about life…and death. The colonists place giant satellite mirrors in Martian orbit to reflect light to the planets surface. Black dust sprinkled on the polar caps will capture warmth and melt the ice. And massive tunnels, kilometers in depth, will be drilled into the Martian mantle to create stupendous vents of hot gases. Against this backdrop of epic upheaval, rivalries, loves, and friendships will form and fall to pieces–for there are those who will fight to the death to prevent Mars from ever being changed. Brilliantly imagined, breathtaking in scope and ingenuity, Red Mars is an epic scientific saga, chronicling the next step in human evolution and creating a world in its entirety. Red Mars shows us a future, with both glory and tarnish, that awes with complexity and inspires with vision.

Are you looking forward to a small screen adaptation of ‘Red Mars’? Who would you love to see cast for the series?

Source: Deadline