Film once again inspires television, as producer Mark Gordon has a pilot commitment with CBS to transition the Jake Gyllenhaal sci-fi suspense film Source Code into a weekly procedural television series.

Released in April of this year, Source Code was director Duncan Jones' follow-up to his acclaimed science fiction mystery, Moon. Source Code performed well in theaters, pulling in over $123 million worldwide, and catching on even more with audiences due to a VOD window two weeks prior to the film's release on DVD and Blu-ray. Critics also liked the film, with it eventually tallying an impressive 91% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Screen Rant’s own Ben Kendrick gave Source Code a 3 star review.

The film follows Captain Colter Stevens (Gyllenhaal), who is wrapped up in a secret government operation that transports his consciousness into another man’s body for what would be that individual’s last eight minutes of life. The purpose of Stevens’ mission is to relive these eight minutes as a passenger of a doomed commuter train – in order to determine the identity of the terrorist before an even larger detonation hits downtown Chicago. The catch being every time Stevens is unsuccessful, he is forced to attempt (and die in) the mission again.

In order for Source Code to make the jump to television, the series will follow three individuals – all former federal agents – who will be transported into the bodies of those caught up in similarly devastating events, so as to stop the perpetrators from committing further atrocities and save more lives.

This particular construct of Source Code would put the show on par with past programs like Quantum Leap or, more closely, the time traveling procedural Seven Days, which saw government operatives traveling back in time to prevent disasters. While seven days is a far cry from eight minutes, the concept of limited time travel for the purpose of preventing a disaster has been a popular concept in Hollywood, as it even figured in the Denzel Washington commuter ferry disaster film Déjà Vu.

michelle monaghan jake gyllenhaal source code

Of course, for the series to work, Source Code would have to do without much of what made the film appealing in the first place – and no, not just Gyllenhaal and his lovely co-star Michelle Monaghan. Much of the film centered on the mystery of Colton Stevens’ involvement with the source code, and his desire to not only acquire the identity of the bomber, but to also save the lives of those on the train – namely Christina Warren (Monaghan).

That means the memory loss and twist regarding a source code participant’s physical state, not to mention the overarching implications of source code, may not play into the series - which is, at the very least, a minus. This is just speculation, however, as Steve Meade (Lost, Lie to Me) is currently penning the pilot’s script, so no word yet on what (if any) changes will take place.

Source Code would join Gordon’s other CBS procedural series Criminal Minds on CBS, but the producer also has projects like the adventure series The Seven Wonders in production at ABC – home of Gordon’s other dramas: Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice.

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Source Code sounds like it has the makings of a sure thing, so Screen Rant will be sure to update as this series progresses.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter