Deadline has brought word that 21 Jump Street screenwriter Michael Bacall is teaming with director Joe Cornish (The Kid Who Would Be King) and Paramount TV to develop a series adaptation of Neal Stephenson’s acclaimed sci-fi novel Snow Crash. Cornish was originally announced to helm the adaptation as a film for producer Kathleen Kennedy at Paramount back in 2012, and then as an Amazon series back in 2017.
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The novel, published by Bantam Books in 1992, is set in a dystopian world and explores the topics of history, linguistics, anthropology, archaeology, religion, computer science, politics, cryptography, memetics and philosophy, as Stephenson frequently does in his novels. The story primarily revolves around Hiro Protagonist, a hacker who in the real world delivers pizza for Uncle Enzo’s CosoNostro Pizza Inc. but is a warrior prince in the online world known as the Metaverse. As he dives into an investigation involving a new computer virus that’s killing off hackers, he races against time on a search-and-destroy mission for the mysterious virtual villain behind the virus.
It has received rave reviews from critics and audiences in the years since its release and has frequently been cited as helping to influence various aspects of what would later become the world wide web and programs used by NASA World Wind and Google Earth. It was nominated for both the British Science Fiction Award in 1993 and the Arthur C. Clarke Award in 1994.
Bacall, who is well-known for bringing Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and 21 Jump Street to the big screen, will pen the series adaptation and serve as co-showrunner alongside Angela Robinson (The L Word). Cornish, who wrote and directed the acclaimed sci-fi action comedy Attack the Block and co-wrote Ant-Man, will direct the series. As a connection, both Bacall and Cornish have previously worked with director Edgar Wright.
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Bacall and Cornish will executive produce the series alongside Robinson, with Frank Marshall producing with Robert Zotnowski.
