AI are making a comeback in media, from poignant films like Ex Machina to popular TV shows like Person of Interest and Humans to upcoming video game titles like System Shock 3. As technology develops more and more rapidly, shows and movies have become interested in the moral consequences of that development, which has led to some thought-provoking creations. Interestingly enough, though, of all the TV shows trying to grapple with the consequences of artificial intelligence, few have explored truly terrifying possibilities. Until now.
FX revealed today that they are developing a new series called Basilisk, a horror-drama about an AI. The creative team features two artists who are no stranger to dystopias: The Walking Dead writer/producer Curtis Gwinn, and The Hunger Games director Francis Lawrence. For sci-fi fans who want to see the truly dark side of robotics, we recommend keeping an eye on this show.
Basilisk will be written by Gwinn, who helped out with The Walking Dead season four and recently acted as a consulting producer on Narcos. Lawrence, who was last seen heading up three of the epic Hunger Games film adaptations, will direct the series. Both Gwinn and Lawrence will also executive produce the show, which Deadline describes as:
A gritty horror series that follows an atheistic college therapist and her computer-genius patient as they find themselves pulled into a plot to awaken a malevolent, god-like artificial intelligence.
FX has its share of horror programming already, including American Horror Story and Guillermo del Toro's The Strain. The network has been unafraid to greenlight some eerie original programming in the past, and even its comedies fall on the darker side, so it seems a show like Basilisk will be right at home.
What little we know about this show only leaves us wanting more information. When/where is it set? How powerful is the AI? Is this a world where peaceful AI already exist, or is this antagonist a prototype gone wrong? There are so many interesting directions in which this could go. And will an established actress come on to try her hand as the complex protagonist, or will the show give an unknown the chance to shine?
Gwinn and Lawrence will both be exploring something new with this series, despite their familiarity with dark sci-fi. After all, Gwinn only helped with The Walking Dead for a season, and spent the bulk of his earlier career working on Adult Swim comedies like NTSF:SD:SUV and Fat Guy Stuck in Internet. Likewise, Lawrence was mostly a music video director before working on projects like the TV movie Gotham. We'll be looking out for more news on this series as it develops, but given what we know so far, it looks to have an intriguing premise--hopefully one that the creative team can successfully pull off.
As Basilisk is still in the early stages of development, a release date has yet to be announced.
Source: Deadline