Sci-Fi Classic Day Of The Triffids Is Getting A Series Adaptation From Chernobyl's Johan Renck And Prime Video
The cordyceps fungal infection of "The Last of Us" may be the hottest infestation on television, but lest we forget John Wyndham's groundbreaking novel "The Day of the Triffids," which featured a tall, mobile, carnivorous plant species hellbent on eating us all. If the title sounds familiar, it's likely due to the film of the same name by Steve Sekely and Freddie Francis, or it's from singing the line "and I really got hot when I saw Janette Scott fight a Triffid that spits poison and kills," in the song "Science Fiction (Double Feature)" from "The Rocky Horror Picture Show."
Johan Renck, director of the critically acclaimed HBO limited series, "Chernobyl" has been announced by The Hollywood Reporter as the latest to tackle Wyndham's novel, with a new series adaptation for Prime Video. Amazon Studios snagged the rights to the novel, looking to adapt the story as a collection of miniseries. How does that work, exactly? Well, the current plan is to showcase the invasion from a variety of viewpoints in differing locations. Honestly, if they can pull this off, this is an extremely exciting prospect for one of the most influential novels of all time. As of publication, the streamer is still looking for a writer.
The original novel takes place after an alien invasion drops the triffid spores around the globe, as a huge chunk of the global population is blinded by the preceding meteor shower. Now, small groups of survivors around England struggle to survive and find one another. "The Day of the Triffids" has influenced countless horror and sci-fi projects, most notably, Danny Boyle's "28 Days Later."
Another venture into the Triffids
Since Wyndham's novel took the world by storm, it has been adapted several times. In addition to Sekely and Francis' 1960s feature film, "The Day of the Triffids" has been adapted three separate times as a radio play, and twice as a TV mini-series for the BBC Network. The most recent adaptation was in 2009 featuring Dougray Scott, Eddie Izzard, Joely Richardson, Vanessa Redgrave, Jason Priestley, and Brian Cox.
Having Johan Renck at the helm is exciting, not just because of his connection to "Chernobyl," but because it also seems as if this is the reason he left the "Dune" prequel series, "Dune: The Sisterhood." While this has not been confirmed in any capacity, it speaks to the anticipated success of "The Day of the Triffids," because it would take something even more impressive to motivate someone to walk away from a series spin-off of one of the most successful films of the last decade.
"The Day of the Triffids" is being executive produced by Don Murphy and Susan Montford through their Angryfilms banner. Jillian and Dennis DeFrehn of Preger Entertainment, who are the rights holders of the novel, are also executive producing in addition to Renck and his partner Michael Parets at Sinestra.