EXCLUSIVE: Platige Image (The Witcher) and Mount Devil, together with The Wheel of Time’s executive producer Mike Weber, are in the works on a TV series based on Otherland, the 4-book series by Tad Williams.
Otherland (the books and its TV adaptation) is described as “an epic cyberpunk-fantasy adventure.” The summary reads, “The world as we know it has an additional layer here – hyper-realistic VR arenas that have become a new place for fun, work, education but also debauchery, crime and abuse. The mysterious Otherland, supposedly another layer of the network, becomes a mere starting point for a multi-realm adventure.
Its Inception-like mechanics contain a series of realms, some uncannily resembling the world we know, others bizarre clusters of familiar creations and characters. Among them are intergalactic taverns, medieval fantasies, and battlegrounds of World War I, to name a few.”
“I believe Tad has written the definitive work on the conflict between the human experience and technological advancements,” said Weber in an exclusive statement to Deadline. “He depicts a not-so-distant future where the choice between living in the real or the virtual world becomes a choice between life or death. The prescient themes and fantastic characters give Otherland all the foundations of a next-level sci-fi drama series adaptation.”
Weber is credited with being the architect of The Wheel of Time series having first brought the project to Sony Pictures TV and overseeing development and production after the project was sold to Amazon. Based in London, he continues to oversee Wheel which is currently filming Season 3 as well as serving as an executive producer on Sony’s ongoing Jumanji film franchise. He is repped by UTA.
Platige Image, the studio behind The Witcher and its collaboration on Love, Death and Robots, has a history spanning over two decades. They’re best known for their innovative techniques in the realm of animation and VFX and with game cinematic credits including Metro Exodus, Cyberpunk 2077 and Call of Duty: Warzone.
The content broker and co-producer Mount Devil was founded in 2020 to identify and acquire exceptional ideas, licenses, and stories to develop into series and/or films.
The Otherland producing team has received financial support from Creative Europe Media and is in the process of interviewing writers/showrunners.