David Bowie’s movie The Man Who Fell To Earth is slated for TV adaptation

Last night CBS announced that they would be creating a TV adaptation of the famed 1976 film The Man Who Fell to Earth starring David Bowie. The movie was based on the eponymous 1963 novel by Walter Tevis.

Bowie’s character in the movie, Thomas Jerome Newton, is an alien posing as a human who came to Earth to get water for his parched planet after seeing on the TV how much water the Earth had.

The TV version of The Man Who Fell to Earth,  “will follow an alien who arrives on Earth at a turning point in human evolution and must confront his own past to determine our future,” according to CBS.

.@CBSAllAccess would like to welcome #TheManWhoFellToEarth
to its slate of original series! This story will follow an alien who arrives on Earth at a turning point in human evolution and must confront his own past to determine our future.

— CBS Studios (@CBSTVStudios) August 1, 2019

Numerous reports have indicated that Alex Kurtzman – who is currently the executive producer for Hawaii Five-0, Star Trek: Discovery, and Instinct – and Jenny Lumet – who wrote Rachel Getting Married – will be the show writers, executive producers, and showrunners for the upcoming series.

According to Variety, the series will explore “the next chapter” following the book and the movie, but fans don’t need to be familiar with either to understand the plot. “You’ll get to have an experience that’s entirely singular. If you have [read the book or seen the movie], you’ll have the benefit of understanding the history of the world that both of those things set up,” said Kurtzman.

While it’s unclear who will follow Bowie in undertaking the main role, writing for the series is set to start in September and the series is set to air by the end of 2020 or early 2021.

Watch the movie trailer for The Man Who Fell to Earth movie below: