Just last week, Variety revealed that the MaddAddam Trilogy is joining the ranks of anticipated Margaret Atwood adaptations. Like Hulu’s Emmy-winning drama, The Handmaid’s Tale, and Netflix’s Alias Grace, the three novels—Oryx and Crake, The Year of the Flood, and MaddAddam—will soon be venturing to the small screen. Paramount TV, which was formerly Spike TV and is currently the home of Waco, has secured the rights.
Margaret Atwood at the Frankfurt Book Fair in October 2017.
- Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons
The MaddAddam Trilogy adaptation will likely be as riveting—and as frighteningly plausible—as Atwood's other works that have already received the small screen treatment. Set in a dystopian future, the last human on Earth, "Snowman" née Jimmy, recounts the the fall of humanity while playing prophet for the "Crakers." This genetically engineered species was created years before—the product of a revolutionary biological discovery—and now dominates the world's population. Animal-like but childish, they have been brought under Snowman's wing in the wake of a global pandemic.
The first book, Oryx and Crake, flashes from Snowman’s present—where he’s living among the Crakers—to his past relationships with a friend-turned-powerful bioengineer and their mutual, child prostitute love interest. The next two installments follow other events that take place within in the same universe, which, though unspeakably grim, do not seem beyond the realm of possibility.
Related: 20 Books Like The Handmaid's Tale
Before Paramount TV acquired the project, the trilogy was destined for HBO, with Black Swan and mother! director Darren Aronofsky at the helm. Now, Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams' David Kanter and Five Came Back's Linda Carlson will be directing and producing, though casting announcements and a release date are still forthcoming. In the meantime, you can sink your teeth into other Atwood adaptations. The Handmaid's Tale returns to Hulu for its second season on April 25, 2018.
Read the MaddAddam Trilogy before it comes to the small screen!
