Robopocalypse Series: Ron Howard Will Direct the Pilot

The machines turn on humanity at Zero Hour and very nearly finish the job. That premise, from Daniel H. Wilson’s novel Robopocalypse, is heading to television as a series with Ron Howard directing the pilot.

Imagine Entertainment and Weed Road are developing it, with Akiva Goldsman writing the pilot and serving as showrunner and Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment executive producing. The Hollywood Reporter reported the project on Monday, and no network or streamer is attached to it yet. Amblin also has the Mandela Catalogue adaptation set for June 2028.

Spielberg Called the Movie Version a Company-Ender

Spielberg was going to direct a feature adaptation more than a decade ago, working from a script by Drew Goddard, with Chris Hemsworth set to star. He has said since that the cost is what stopped him, describing the project as “gargantuan” and “a company-ender.” Michael Bay took it over around 2018, and the film was never made.

Howard Says the Themes Pulled Him In

Howard told The Hollywood Reporter that the book “has all the scale and suspense of a major action story, but what drew me to it are the thought-provoking themes and humanity at its center.” He also said Wilson “created a future that feels both startling and increasingly plausible.”

Wilson published Robopocalypse in 2011 and a sequel, Robogenesis, in 2014. He wrote both after finishing a doctorate in robotics at Carnegie Mellon.