Comic book adaptations are all the rage on both the big and small screen nowadays, with the most widely-known ones being based on properties of the Marvel or DC variety. There are some noteworthy exceptions of course; in particular the hit AMC TV show The Walking Dead, itself based on the comic book series of the same name that is published by Image Comics. There could well be more Image Comics-based adaptations in the future too, with reports about a Sex Criminals TV series and a Chrononauts movies (among other Image Comics-based projects) having emerged in recent years.
One Image Comics property that has long been rumored for a movie adaptation is Witchblade, as based on the comic book series of the same name that was created by Marc Silvestri, David Wohl, Brian Haberlin, and Michael Turner back in 1995 - and ran for some twenty years thereafter. We're now getting word that the comic book property will instead be getting a fresh adaptation for television; a medium that the Witchblade brand is no stranger to, as it were.
Sony Pictures Television and NBC Universal have confirmed to Comic Book that a Witchblade TV series is now being developed for NBC. EW is further reporting that The Vampire Diaries showrunner Caroline Dries and Carol Mendelsohn (the CSI franchise) are working on the script for the TV show's pilot. In addition, Silvestri, Mendelsohn and Rick Jacobs (Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency), are going to be serving as some of the executive producers on the TV show.
Witchblade has already been adapted into a live-action TV show (one that ran for two seasons) once before, on TNT in the early 2000s. Yancy Butler starred in said TV series as protagonist Sara Pezzini: an NYPD homicide detective who solves a variety of supernatural-oriented crimes and criminals by using the Witchblade; a sentient bracelet that bonds with its host (in this case, Sara) and gives their supernatural abilities of their own. Comic Book is reporting that NBC's own Witchblade TV series is a TV procedural similar to its predecessor on TNT. That only makes sense, given both the nature of the Witchblade property in general and the previous work of the producers involved thus far (most of whom specialize in crime-solving shows of some sort).
Unfortunately, NBC doesn't have the greatest of recent track records when it comes to TV procedurals based on comic book properties that delve in the supernatural. The network somewhat infamously cancelled its live-action Constantine TV show adaptation some years ago after a single season and has yet to sustain a hit comic book TV show for multiple seasons; a la as FOX has done with Gotham and Lucifer, The CW with its Arrowverse TV shows and so forth. Whether or not Witchblade will be the project that bucks that trend, remains to be seen of course.
We'll bring you more information on NBC's Witchblade TV series as it becomes available.
Source: Comic Book