TV veteran Shonda Rhimes and the Planet of the Apes‘ Matt Reeves are joining forces with streaming service Netflix to develop a film and television universe around the upcoming novel “Recursion” by bestselling author Blake Crouch, which is hitting shelves on June 11, 2019.
At once a relentless save-the-world sci-fi thriller, an epic romance, and an intricate police procedural, “Recursion” explores what happens when a brilliant female scientist invents a powerful technology that allows people not just to reactivate their most visceral memories but to reinvent them entirely. For some, it offers the chance to rewrite their entire lives. In the wrong hands, it will upend the world as we know it.
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“Projects like this are why I came to Netflix,” Shonda Rhimes said. “The opportunity to explore a multi-genre universe in innovative ways is extremely exciting. Matt and Blake both have the tremendous ability to build compelling characters and imaginative landscapes and I am thrilled to work alongside them.”
Rhimes signed with the streaming service last August to develop original series for Netflix, with the first project being based on the New York magazine article “How Anna Delvey Tricked New York’s Party People” by Jessica Pressler, along with eight other shows already in development. She is known for developing nine total shows for ABC before moving to Netflix, having created her production company Shondaland during her time there, including Grey’s Anatomy, How to Get Away with Murder and For the People.
“I have been a fan of Shonda’s and Matt’s work going back years,” Crouch said. “To have these titans of television and film working on something of mine is an incredible honor, and Netflix is the pitch-perfect home for people who want to adapt film and TV in the most innovative way possible.”
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“Blake’s mind-bending novel presents an incredible opportunity to explore its expansive narrative simultaneously through both film and television,” Matt Reeves said. “Netflix is uniquely suited for this ambitious undertaking and I can’t imagine a more exciting partner than the astonishingly talented Shonda Rhimes whose work I have admired for years.”
Reeves is well-known for his work on the latter films in the Planet of the Apes reboot trilogy and is currently working on the standalone The Batman movie for the DC Extended Universe, writing and directing the project.
