After years of being stuck in development hell, a TV adaptation of the awesome and acclaimed Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming graphic novel Powers is finally moving forward. The ten-episode series will air on the Playstation Network, with Bendis and Oeming executive producing. Development on the show has been a little bit slow since its announcement back in March, but things are apparently picking up speed as Deadline reports that three actors have jumped on board.
Those actors are Eddie Izzard (Hannibal, The Riches), Noah Taylor (Edge of Tomorrow, Game of Thrones), and Olesya Rulin (Greek, High School Musical). They join The Following and 666 Park Avenue actress Susan Heyward, who has already been cast as the series’ co-lead, Deena Pilgrim.
The series combines superhero fantasy with crime procedural, taking place in a world full of people with superhuman abilities. It follows the lives of two homicide detectives, Christian Walker and Deena Pilgrim, who “are assigned to protect humans like us and investigate cases involving people with superhuman abilities, referred to as Powers, who glide through the sky on lightning bolts and fire and who clash above cities in epic battle, oblivious to the mortals below.”
Izzard will play the series’ villain, Wolfe, the former mentor of Christian Walker and a top-level “Power” who has spent the last twenty years incarcerated in “The Shaft,” where his terrible abilities have been kept in check through “a brutal regimen of surgical procedures.” Taylor will take on the role of criminal mastermind Johnny Royalle with the power of teleportation and owns “a cutting edge underground venue,” the Here and Gone Club. Rulin will play Calista, a “teenage Power wannabe” with street smarts, attitude, and vulnerability.
There’s no word yet on when the series is expected to premiere, but now that some of the supporting roles have been cast, production will hopefully go underway shortly. The show has yet to cast its lead, Christian Walker, so keep on the lookout for that news.
Powers‘ first two episodes will be directed by Hannibal and 30 Days of Night helmer David Slade, from scripts by All Signs of Death‘s Charlie Huston.
