James R | On 01, Aug 2018

Apple is teeing up a new TV series based on Terry Gilliams’ Time Bandits.

The film, which was directed by Gilliam back in 1980, is a dark adventure about dreams and imagination. It follows 11-year-old schoolboy Kevin (Craig Warnock), who is rescued from his dull, suburban life when an armoured knight and a gang of dwarves emerge from his wardrobe and carry him off on a journey through space and time. Along the way, they meet some of history’s most famous characters, including Napoleon Bonaparte (Ian Holm), Robin Hood (John Cleese) and King Agamemnon (Sean Connery), but they are also being closely watched by the malevolent sorcerer Evil (David Warner), who has laid a cunning trap to obtain their map.

Now, Deadline reports that it may be returning to our screens in a new, serialised form, as Apple is closing a deal for the rights to the tale. The series, which would see Gilliam attached as an executive producer but not as a writer or director, would be co-produced by Anonymous Content, Paramount Television and Media Rights Capital.

The negotiations follow a steady stream of big names and promising titles mounting up at Apple, as it prepares to launch its own TV offering to rival Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and others. They include See, a new Steven Knight series starring Alfre Woodard, a new series based on Isaac Asimov’s Foundation trilogy from David S. Goyer, a morning show drama starring Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon, a space drama from Ronald D. Moore, a show from Damien Chazelle, a comedy starring Kristin Wiig, a psychological thriller from M. Night Shyamalan, a multi-year deal with Oprah Winfrey, and a reboot of Spielberg anthology Amazing Stories.

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