Book Of Eli Prequel Series In The Works, John Boyega Stepping In For Denzel Washington
Alright, who here saw John Boyega on a fast track to stardom after "The Force Awakens" and said something along the lines of, "Boy, he sure seems like the next Denzel Washington?" without knocking on wood first? Because that monkey's paw has started to curl something fierce and left us with the latest batch of franchise IP news — one that'll excite the more innocent among us while leaving the rest slightly jaded and cynical. What a time to be alive, folks.
So, remember when the Hughes brothers teamed up with "Rogue One" writer Gary Whitta on a 2010 apocalyptic movie by the name of "The Book of Eli" and we all agreed that it was a pretty solid piece of original genre work with something meaningful on its mind? That might feel like more and more of a foreign concept these days, especially compared to the current state of original sci-fi (yes, I'm still sore about what we allowed to happen to Gareth Edwards' "The Creator"). Well, perhaps the most 2024 news of this young year comes in the form of a report by Deadline, which reveals that we're apparently getting a "The Book of Eli" prequel series — not even a movie, but a television show — in which Boyega will play a younger version of Washington's title character. The original film, you'll recall, is set a few decades after some planet-wide catastrophe renders the world a smoking, radioactive, cannibal-infested wasteland in which only Eli, the blind warrior, holds the key to humanity's potential survival — spiritually and philosophically speaking (if nothing else).
The series, which is rumored to take place another 30 years before the movie (so right around the time of the nuclear disaster) is now being shopped around to the highest bidder.
The book of IP-mining
You know, we might not be living in an actual apocalypse (well, maybe today's other big IP news has you feeling differently about that, too), but things can't help but feel mighty hopeless 'round these parts when we have to report about one of our best and most charismatic stars being forced to settle for a leading role in a prequel series based on a fairly well-received movie from almost a decade and a half ago. In between trips to a galaxy far, far away, John Boyega has ended up in other franchise movies like "Pacific Rim Uprising" and will soon return for the long-awaited "Attack the Block" sequel ... meanwhile, it felt as if everyone ignored the fact that he starred in the wildly underseen original sci-fi movie "They Cloned Tyrone" just last year. That probably helps explain why roles like that and his supporting turns in both "The Woman King" and 2017's "Detroit" feel like they're falling further and further behind in the rearview mirror, but that doesn't make it any less disheartening. In fact, this is yet another reason that the "Death of the movie star" has become such a common refrain in film circles, too.
Oddly enough, Deadline reports that original distributor Warner Bros. is not involved in this "The Book of Eli" prequel show, but otherwise skimps on major plot details, casting reports, or any indications of where this project may ultimately end up. Deadline frames this as one of the buzzier productions to land on studio desks in the weeks and months since the end of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, livening up a marketplace that's sorely in need of a significant hit. We'll be sure to follow this project closely for any updates.