Screenwriter, director, and producer Joss Whedon is heading back to the small screen.
The creator of sci-fi fan favorites Buffy the Vampire Slayer , Angel , and Firefly is bringing his new television program, The Nevers , to HBO.
This marks Whedon’s first TV series since he co-created ABC’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. in 2013.
He has been keeping himself busy in the entertainment world with silver screen blockbusters like 2012’s The Avengers , 2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron , and 2017’s Justice League .
According to Deadline , several networks were actively pursuing The Nevers , including Netflix, but HBO won the rights to the series.
The 54-year-old will serve as writer, director, executive producer, and showrunner for the series, which is described as “an epic science fiction drama about a gang of Victorian women who find themselves with unusual abilities, relentless enemies, and a mission that might change the world.”
“I honestly couldn’t be more excited,” Whedon said.
“ The Nevers is, maybe, the most ambitious narrative I’ve created, and I can’t imagine a better home for it than HBO. Not only are they the masters of cinematic long-form, but their instant understanding of my odd, intimate epic was as emotional as it was incisive. It’s been too long since I created an entirely new fictional world, and the HBO team offer not just scope and experience, not just ‘prestige,’ but a passionate collaboration. I could go on, but — I’m impatiently grateful to say — I have work to do.”
“We have long been fans of the incredibly talented and prolific Joss Whedon, and we can’t think of a better project than The Nevers with which to welcome him to the HBO family,” said Casey Bloys, HBO’s president of programming.
“We look forward to meeting the strange, multifaceted characters of The Nevers , to learn their stories, see them in action, and share them with our viewers,” Bloys continued.
“We’re honored that Joss chose HBO as the place to build his ambitious new world and we are excited to get started.”
“I honestly couldn’t be more excited. The Nevers is maybe the most ambitious narrative I’ve created”
Joss Whedon is bringing his newest project to life on HBO. #TheNevers https://t.co/yNz1sSd8EG pic.twitter.com/T9fuqBHxQr
— HBO (@HBO) July 13, 2018
No word yet on who will star in the series, or when it will premiere on HBO.
In addition to The Nevers , Whedon is also executive producing a half-hour comedy series for Freeform tentatively titled Pippa Smith: Grown-Up Detective .
“The series is described as a dark comedy that follows Pippa Smith, a twentysomething former kid sleuth, as she deals with relationships, addiction, and being too dang old for the detecting game,” according to Variety . “Each episode, Pippa solves a new case, while unraveling a bigger mystery and attempting to navigate a messy personal life.”
Whedon got his start in showbiz as a writer and story editor for the TV comedy Roseanne in 1989. He was nominated for a Best Original Screenplay Academy Award in 1995 for writing the beloved Disney movie Toy Story , and in 2009, he won the Outstanding Short-Format Live-Action Entertainment Program Emmy for the musical miniseries Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog .
