Consider Phlebas to be adapted for TV by Amazon

Amazon Studios is set to adapt the beloved Iain M. Banks novel Consider Phlebas for television, the streamer announced Wednesday. Dennis Kelly (Utopia, Matilda) will pen the adaptation, with Plan B Entertainment (World War Z, Feud) producing and the Estate of Iain Banks attached as executive producer.

A kinetic, action-packed adventure on a huge canvas, Consider Phlebas draws upon the extraordinary world and mythology Banks created in the Culture, a highly advanced and progressive society that ends up at war with the Idirans, a deeply religious, warlike race intent on dominating the entire galaxy. The novel is the first of Banks’ to feature the Culture and inspired the 2000 follow-up Look to Windward.

“The story of the Culture is so rich and captivating that for years Hollywood has been trying to bring this utopian society to life on the screen,” Sharon Tal Yguado, head of scripted series at Amazon Studios, said in a statement. “We are honored that we have been chosen, along with Dennis Kelly and Plan B Entertainment, to make Consider Phlebas into a television series we think will be loved by fans for years to come.”

“Iain Banks has long been a hero of mine, and his innate warmth, humor, and humanism shines through these novels,” Kelly added. “Far from being the dystopian nightmares that we are used to, Banks creates a kind of flawed paradise, a society truly worth fighting for — rather than a warning from the future, his books are a beckoning.”

The series will be made available exclusively on Amazon Prime Video, with no release date announced as of yet. The news comes shortly after Jennifer Salke (formerly of NBC) was named the new programming head of Amazon. Roy Price resigned last year in the wake of sexual misconduct allegations against him.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos excitedly announced the news on Twitter Wednesday morning, calling the series a “huge personal favorite.”