Dan Stevens has a new job: to “Serve the public trust, protect the innocent, and uphold the law.” He’ll follow these Prime Directives as Robocop in the upcoming Prime Video series from showrunner Peter Ocko (Lodge 49) and Blumhouse Atomic Monster. The eight-episode show was given the green light officially last month, after being in the works for a couple of years.
Penned by Ocko, Robocop kicks off when a giant tech conglomerate pursuades the city to place a powerful robot on its police force – a robot implanted with the consciousness of a beloved fallen officer, Alex Murphy (Stevens).
Of course, the series is based on the 1987 cyberpunk classic by Paul Verhoeven, about a cop who is brutally murdered by gangs, only to be revived as a powerful robotic force for justice, implanted with Alex Murphy’s memories.
Remaking Verhoeven has always been a foolish errand. His mix of satire, action, comedy, extreme violence, and foreign sensibilities as a Dutch filmmaker are tough to get right. Just look at the forgettable 2014 Robocop reboot starring Joel Kinnaman. Does anyone remember it?
Neill Blomkamp was close to doing Robocop Returns for MGM, but as typically happens with Blomkamp, the project got scrapped. That guy’s luck is in the toilet. Abe Forsythe (Little Monsters) took it over in 2019 but that never went anywhere, either.
James Wan will produce and direct multiple episodes, which could be interesting. Wan has rarely failed as a director and could get the tone just right.
Stevens can be seen right now in the third season of AMC’s The Terror, titled Devil in Silver. Next up for him is a reunion with Adam Wingard for next month’s action flick, Onslaught, followed by next March’s Godzilla x Kong: Supernova. [Deadline]
