Australian screenwriter Leigh Whannell plans on making a follow-up to his sci-fi horror hit Upgrade in the form of a TV series. Blumhouse Television and NBCUniversal’s UCP are pairing up to make this adaptation as Whannell will return as an executive producer alongside showrunner Tim Walsh (Shooter, Treadstone), according to Deadline.
Krystal Ziv Houghton (The Purge) and James Roland (The Purge) join both Whannell and Walsh in the writer’s room for the series adaptation.
In the 2018 film Upgrade follows Grey Trace, played by Logan Marshall-Green (The O.C.), who sets out for revenge after a mugging leaves him paralyzed and his wife dead. He later crosses paths with a rich tech mogul who offers him a computer implant called STEM, granting him the ability to walk and use many exceptional physical capabilities. This fuels his need for vengeance and he hunts down those who were involved with his wife’s murder; meanwhile, the STEM system proves to be dangerously more advanced than he thought. The film was a science fiction-based thriller, playing on both technological horrors and fascination. It was a deeply personal story about how automation corrupted and uprooted an individual’s life.
Collider cites the press release, saying the series adaptation “picks up a few years after the events of the film and broadens the universe with an evolved version of STEM and a new host – imaging a world in which the government repurposes STEM to help curb criminal activity.”
Considering the adaptation is still in the works, no information is known yet about which network will be used to premiere the sequel series. There are no cast members currently attached to this project as well.