Amazing news pertaining to Hugh Jackman has hit our desks. Only this time, Hugh Jackman is coming in big to Netflix. Game of Thrones creators D.B. Weiss and David Benioff are partnering with Hugh Jackman to adapt The Overstory for Netflix. Weiss and Benioff signed a huge overall deal with Netflix in 2019. The deal was the result of a bidding war after the conclusion of Game of Thrones, with big studios like Amazon and Disney in the mix. Under the deal, Benioff and Weiss are set to write, direct, and produce multiple shows and movies under the “Netflix Original” banner.
Now, via Deadline, the duo’s latest project will see them team up with Hugh Jackman for an adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Overstory. It is the twelfth novel by Richard Powers and follows the lives of nine Americans and their unique relationships with several trees, while also addressing the issue of forest destruction. Jackman is signed on as an executive producer, with the potential to star in the show depending on how the production goes.
Hollywood star Hugh Jackman will also serve as executive producer along with Bernie Caulfield of Benioff and Weiss’s Bighead Littlehead production banner. Published in 2018, “The Overstory” tells the story of a world alongside ours that is vast, interconnected, resourceful, magnificently inventive, and almost invisible to us. A handful of disparate people learn how to see that world and are drawn into its unfolding catastrophe. Richard Robbins has penned the pilot script and also executive produces the show. “The Overstory” series will be Benioff and Weiss’ third Netflix project after an adaptation of Liu Cixin’s sci-fi trilogy “The Remembrance of Earth’s Past” and “The Chair”, a six-part comedy series from showrunner Amanda Peet.
Jackman is reportedly a fan of the novel, as is Netflix co-CEO Reed Hastings, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The book won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, and Netflix describes the novel as “a sweeping, impassioned work of activism and resistance that is also a stunning evocation of the natural world” in its announcement post. “It tells the story of a world alongside ours that is vast, interconnected, resourceful, magnificently inventive, and almost invisible to us,” the announcement goes on to say. “A handful of disparate people learn how to see that world and are drawn into its unfolding catastrophe.”
Even though Benioff and Weiss’ run with Game of Thrones ended in controversy, the idea of them tackling another adaptation shouldn’t be dismissed outright. When they were still working off George R.R. Martin’s novels, the show was both critically and commercially acclaimed. The quality of Game of Thrones got noticeably worse when the duo ran out of material to adapt, so the fact they’re working with a finished, beloved novel in The Overstory should make people more optimistic. Jackman’s involvement is promising as well, considering his solid history in the industry. Hopefully, it proves to be a fruitful team-up.
Are you excited to see Hugh Jackman teaming up with D.B. Weiss and David Benioff?
