According to Variety, Netflix has given a straight-to-series order to Altered Carbon, based on the 2002 science fiction novel of same name by Richard K. Morgan. The story takes place in the 25th century, when the human mind has been digitized and can be transferred from one body to another. It’s a real saving grace for people born with ears that stick out, or who are, you know, brutally murdered and want to come back and identify their killer.
The main character is Takeshi Kovacs, a former elite interstellar warrior known as an Envoy who has been sentenced to 500 years in prison. However, “if he can solve a single murder in a world where technology has made death nearly obsolete, he’ll get a chance at a new life on Earth.” In other words, although the mechanism is different, maybe this will be the Minority Report experience we all hoped for when Minority Report was actually on TV.
The series will be produced by Skydance Television. Laeta Kalogridis will write, executive produce, and serve as showrunner. Kalogridis co-wrote the screenplays for Shutter Island and Terminator: Genisys. Hopefully she’ll be able to combine the former’s enticing mystery and tangible psychological uncertainty with nothing whatsoever from the latter.