SINGAPORE - The super spy Cleopatra Wong from Singapore, a character who appeared in a series of popular movies in the late 1970s, could return on television. The films include They Call Her Cleopatra Wong (1978).

Production company Beach House Pictures has acquired the character rights from the actress Doris Young who played the action heroine, who goes by the stage name Marrie Lee.

Jocelyn Little, managing director of the Singapore-headquartered company and one of the show's executive producers, says that Wong "deserves a premium television series in the mould of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Jessica Jones or Orphan Black... She will be a complex woman with a personal life".

Beach House Pictures, behind reality-based shows like MasterChef Singapore (2018) and Raffles: Remaking An Icon (2018), about the venerable hotel, is putting together a team of writers. Development could take up to a year.

At this stage, it is too early to say how much Singapore talent will be used in the making of the show about an iconic local character. Ms Little says: "Cleopatra Wong is a Singaporean character and we are a Singaporean production company so we want to make as much of it as possible in Singapore. Casting decisions are a long way off."

The news was announced at television content trade show Mipcom, in Cannes, France, on Monday (Oct 15).