David Farnor | On 06, May 2016

Amazon has tapped Lost and Marco Polo veterans to lead new series Darkover.

Elizabeth Sarnoff (Lost) and Patrick Macmanus (Marco Polo) will write and exec produce the show, which is based on Marion Zimmer Bradley’s books.

The project – one of the first from producers IM Global Television – first came to light last year, with Ilene Kahn Power (Traffic) and Elizabeth Stanley on board as exec producers, but it was still in need of a writer. With Sarnoff and Macmanus joining the production, though, you can expect to hear much more about it as development continues.

The sci-fi fantasy novels span a total of 25 books, starting with The Planet Savers in 1958, and has since been translated into 17 languages. Set on the planet of Darkover, Deadline describes the TV adaptation as “tracing the development of a civilisation from its inadvertent founding on a distant planet by a group of human colonists through war-torn feudal ages to recontact 2,000 years later with their Earthly descendants”.

It marks an ongoing step up in ambition from Amazon Studios. Last month, the online retailer announced it would “significantly” increase its spending on original content this year. Indeed, Amazon is also in talks to acquire Strange New Things, a epic sci-fi series from director Kevin Macdonald.

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