Hollywood has been trying to get an adaptation of pulp hero Doc Savage to the big screen for decades now. The last we checked, Dwayne Johnson was set to star as the titular character. Before that, Shane Black was locked in as writer/director and Chris Hemsworth was set to star.
But throw all of that information out the window, because The Man of Bronze is heading to TV now!
Sony Pictures Television is developing a Doc Savage TV series from Condé Nast Entertainment and Original Film. Deadline reports the series “will chronicle [Savage’s] adventures, featuring rampaging dinosaurs, secret societies led by dastardly villains, fantastic gadgets and weapons, death-dealing traps, hair-raising escapes, and plots to rule the earth.”
Deadline states that Neal H. Moritz, producer of The Fast Saga who also runs Original Film, said that he “began contemplating a small-screen adaptation. He felt like, with hundreds of characters and myriad stories featured in the books, the Doc Savage IP would be better served as a TV series where there is more time to explore characters.”
I’ve constantly been saying that characters who were created through a series of novels or comics would be better suited for television. We’ve seen success in that field in recent years with Bosch and Jack Ryan (both on Amazon Prime Video). In fact, I’d say that Amazon would almost be a good fit for Doc Savage. It would fit right into their Dad genre they got going for them right now.
Moritz has a history of adapting comics to television. He has previously worked on The Boys, Preacher, and Happy!
I’m interested in seeing where this new adaptation ends up. If Moritz manages to snag a popular star for Savage, I could see the streaming services fighting for this one.
Do you think Doc Savage will work better on television than film? Who do you want to see cast as Savage?
