The last time we saw Frankenstein’s monster on the big screen, he was being played as a ripped, immortal badass named Adam in the mostly awful I, Frankenstein. It wasn’t a good look for the horror icon. Then, this past summer, Showtime’s Penny Dreadful put an interesting spin on the character’s origins, exploring the murky morals of Victor Frankenstein (Harry Treadaway) and his creations. Now, Fox is ramping up for its own Frankenstein series – and it may be one of the most far-out adaptations to still bear the name of Mary Shelley’s classic novel.
Simply titled Frankenstein, and described as “taking inspiration” from Shelley’s work, this new project centers on Adam Tremble, a morally corrupt FBI agent given another chance at a good life after being brought back from the dead by two peculiar individuals – an antisocial Internet billionaire and his bio-engineer twin sister. Now faster and stronger than ever before, Tremble struggles to find a new path and bring his particular skill set to his work at the FBI while avoiding old temptations.
So far, so strange. However, Frankenstein‘s executive producers include Crisis and Life creator Rand Ravich (also on board as a writer) and Homeland and Tyrant executive producer Howard Gordon (pictured above), certainly a promising sign. The series is described as a “grounded sci-fi drama,” which fits snugly inside Gordon’s wheelhouse considering his past projects – The X-Files, Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel, to name a few.
No cast members are yet attached, but it will be interesting to watch this project progress up to the pilot stage. Even with its pedigree, there’s no guarantee that Frankenstein will make it past that obstacle (its premise sounds a little too similar to Forever and Alphas, among many other shows for my liking), though Fox is having a pretty awful fall season outside of Gotham (newcomers Utopia, Red Band Society, Gracepoint and Mulaney have all pulled in weak ratings, and that’s putting it lightly). Maybe a reanimated corpse will be just the thing to breathe new life into the network next year.
