Unlike another HBO series based on novels, this trilogy is now complete.
June 4, 2014 5:13 PM   Subscribe

Darren Aronofsky is developing Margaret Atwood's MaddAddam trilogy (Oryx and Crake, Year of the Flood, and MaddAddam) as an HBO series. Atwood says on Twitter that she's "met+ brainstormed with the Team and they're terrific!" Aronofsky had signed on with HBO in January.
posted by davidjmcgee (72 comments total) 42 users marked this as a favorite
 
Just don't call it "science fiction" and Atwood will be cool with it.
posted by Renoroc at 5:15 PM on June 4, 2014 [3 favorites]


I can't wait for the spoiler wars again.

Joking aside though, that's great news and I'll be looking forward to this. I love her writing and am hopeful hbo can carry it off.
posted by Dip Flash at 5:18 PM on June 4, 2014


It was a good trilogy (YOTF is the strongest IMO,) and it'd lend itself nicely to an HBO format. Year of The Flood might be a little slow, but they could probably get most of their sets from Almost Human.

It might be interesting if they broke up the stories a bit - you could intersperse bits of YOTF and MA to cut down on the amount of time Toby is alone because that'd be like the worst parts of Walking Dead.
posted by angerbot at 5:21 PM on June 4, 2014


I hope this is filmed almost entirely inside of a Walmart.
posted by coolxcool=rad at 5:22 PM on June 4, 2014


Oh my god! I haven't had a chance to read MaddAddam yet! Nobody post any comments until I do!
posted by mittens at 5:22 PM on June 4, 2014 [10 favorites]


My alumni book club just read the first of these for our last session. Maybe I'll suggest we get together for a watch party.
posted by immlass at 5:23 PM on June 4, 2014


Also maybe they can come up with a better name than "Painballer" because it was dumb in the books and I could not take it being said out loud, multiple times.
posted by angerbot at 5:24 PM on June 4, 2014 [9 favorites]


I can't wait for the spoiler wars again.

Why wait? Outlander premiers this August on STARZ.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 5:31 PM on June 4, 2014 [4 favorites]


I'd heard rumors that Tyrion gets injured in the second book, during a shoot out with Rick and Carl, but he comes back as cyborg which has elbow rockets.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 5:32 PM on June 4, 2014 [5 favorites]


Why wait? Outlander premiers this August on STARZ.

For a brief moment I thought you meant Outland. Five years ago they announced a remake was in the works, but obviously now stalled.
posted by stbalbach at 5:43 PM on June 4, 2014 [2 favorites]


YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYY - I've only read Oryx and Crake so far, but that was really good, and I cannot wait to see this.
posted by misterbee at 5:43 PM on June 4, 2014 [1 favorite]


Great fit.
posted by chainlinkspiral at 5:49 PM on June 4, 2014


Love the books, can't wait!

(The books are delightfully silly... thought I cannot figure out if Atwood intended that)
posted by Cosine at 5:55 PM on June 4, 2014 [1 favorite]


Awesome, can't wait!
posted by Sticherbeast at 5:59 PM on June 4, 2014


I just put a hold on Oryx and Crake at the library, so I look forward to being one of the book-crakers.
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 6:09 PM on June 4, 2014 [3 favorites]


Oh this is fantastic news. I fear a show can't get all the amazing pre-Apocalypse stuff in Oryx & Crake (the names of their video games are pretty phenomenal). But still, it's a great fit.
posted by ThatFuzzyBastard at 6:10 PM on June 4, 2014


Why wait? Outlander premiers this August on STARZ.

You can't spoil something that dumb. It would be a violation of book physics.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:12 PM on June 4, 2014 [1 favorite]


Agree with angerbot that YOTF is the best -- I always wondered why Oryx and Crake seemed to get so much more attention.

I love this series and I like Aronofsky and I like what HBO has done with a lot of series', so I'm optimistic, but I really hope they get the cinematography right, and also the special effects. I'll be sad if the Crakers look like characters from Avatar.

Cosine, I think the silliness is definitely intentional: she's being satirical about marketing/consumerism/technology.
posted by pocketfullofrye at 6:13 PM on June 4, 2014


I am anxiously awaiting Michael Bay's upcoming adaptation of Cat's Eye.
posted by miyabo at 6:30 PM on June 4, 2014 [9 favorites]


The best part about this is that it's probably going to drive a run on Margaret Atwood books at bookstores and libraries.
posted by Pope Guilty at 6:34 PM on June 4, 2014 [14 favorites]


You can't spoil something that dumb. It would be a violation of book physics.
posted by Dip Flash at 8:12 AM on June 5 [+] [!]


Oh my god just be quiet and don't hate on my books

Re: the MaddAddam series, I'm thrilled HBO is the one doing this, so we can have maximum blue penis screen time. I am only a little bit sarcastic
posted by olinerd at 6:53 PM on June 4, 2014 [11 favorites]


I am going to have to read Oryx and Crake again because while I really liked the world (and enjoy Atwood in general) I don't remember there being a plot.
posted by shakespeherian at 6:55 PM on June 4, 2014 [4 favorites]


Also maybe they can come up with a better name than "Painballer"

I think Atwood came up with that name because it's so totally stupid that it works perfectly in context.
posted by ovvl at 6:55 PM on June 4, 2014 [1 favorite]


O&C does have very little plot. I reread it when YOTF came out and was surprised at how much of it was worldbuilding v. action.

And yeah, Painballer is kinda stupid, but Atwood is otherwise clever at naming things. CorpSeCorps and HelthWyzer are both inspired. Especially in the audio book when I wasn't distracted by the annoiying spelng and RanDomCaps.
posted by Flannery Culp at 7:06 PM on June 4, 2014


I am anxiously awaiting Michael Bay's upcoming adaptation of Cat's Eye.

It would have to be better than Tyler Perry's A Handmaid's Tale.
posted by mykescipark at 7:09 PM on June 4, 2014 [12 favorites]


Oryx & Crake is brilliant. Its relative plotlessness is part of that.

As a child, I read it over and over again, hunting for clues as to what I was missing. Slowly it dawned on me that it was all staring me right in the face.
posted by Rory Marinich at 7:22 PM on June 4, 2014


Yessssssssss

I guess this means I should read the third book, now.
posted by Sara C. at 7:26 PM on June 4, 2014


Depends. Did you think the Crakers were interesting and whimsical or OMG take your childlike ignorance and blue penises and GO AWAY NOW?
posted by Flannery Culp at 7:35 PM on June 4, 2014 [3 favorites]


CGI Rakunks!
posted by St. Sorryass at 7:38 PM on June 4, 2014 [3 favorites]


I just started listening to Oryx and Crake last night. I stand a chance of finishing the whole set before the show airs!
posted by maudlin at 7:39 PM on June 4, 2014


What's the ratio of projects Darren Aronofksy announces to ones he actually films though? Maybe it seems lower than it really is because of some much-discussed departures he's had (The Wolverine, Robocop, Batman) but it still feels like he jumps on board and then off board of a lot of things.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:57 PM on June 4, 2014


If HBO is announcing it, it's a thing.

I can see Aronofsky leaving the project, but HBO doesn't announce shows that don't get made. And frankly I could take him being attached.
posted by Sara C. at 8:01 PM on June 4, 2014


I'm excited about this and yet.... terrified to see chickienobs on my screen. I've had nightmares about chickienobs.
posted by silverstatue at 8:11 PM on June 4, 2014 [3 favorites]


Huh. I read Oryx and Crake some ten years ago, and liked it alright. Honestly don't remember much of it. Wasn't it kind of heavy-handed in its politics? Not sure how it could be compelling on HBO, but I'll watch for sure.
posted by naju at 8:12 PM on June 4, 2014 [4 favorites]


So my partner enjoyed Hunger Games...re-reading the series several times, re-watching the movies, which genuinely surprised me because the politics seemed contrary to his personal convictions...so I commented that he'd likely enjoy THIS trilogy (with no Atwood experience) which has more nuance. I'm hopeful for the series, though he may be surprised if he can't renew the book because of increased demand.
posted by childofTethys at 8:35 PM on June 4, 2014


The chicken nubbies are on me!
posted by arcticseal at 9:21 PM on June 4, 2014


I hope they mash the books up a bit, because Crake and Snowman/Jimmy are, uh, terrible. I mean, mostly terrible people. And Toby is great.
posted by NoraReed at 9:24 PM on June 4, 2014 [3 favorites]


Snowman/Jimmy is a textbook case of a child of a depressed parent.

All hail the great God Fuck!
posted by brujita at 10:17 PM on June 4, 2014 [2 favorites]


And still no Red/Green/Blue Mars series. Last I heard Cameron had the rights.
posted by PenDevil at 10:47 PM on June 4, 2014


Great news. IMHO Oryx and Crake is the best of the series. The characters are strong and the plot works. I'm also a sucker for a impending apocalypse book.

Subsequent books are good but a bit muddier with more POVs.
posted by Dag Maggot at 10:52 PM on June 4, 2014 [1 favorite]


I dunno, I felt like Oryx and Crake was something that I should have liked, but I really, really didn't get the fuss when I read it. I found it kinda undisciplined, really wan & predictable, and with this arch, juvenile kind of winking tone (the names for example, I did not find clever at all. I found them like Piers Anthony-sans-pedophilia). I thought the characters were very flat, and the narrative very stereotypical. I dunno, it just seemed really obvious post-apocalptic pastiche with some nods to the then-scary prospect of genetic engineering.

I felt the same way about Never Let Me Go - writers unfamiliar with a genre jump in and produce something that was done, arguably much better, at least thirty years ago.

My mum really liked Margaret Atwood but I've read three of her books and none of them really worked for me. I always feel very aware that I'm reading a book. Feels a little removed for me.

(*yes, I'm aware of the controversy with Atwood and SF, and that she has kinda sorta written a few SF novels. I place her outside of genre because it's clear to me that she neither thinks of herself that way, does not participate in the genre, and doesn't really seem to read the genre, either.)
posted by smoke at 11:03 PM on June 4, 2014 [6 favorites]


Hasn't there been a move to describe this kind of fiction as "spec-fi" (speculative) versus "sci-fi"? I find that nicely covers a lot of dystopian stuff, without implying spaceships and aliens.
posted by olinerd at 11:37 PM on June 4, 2014 [1 favorite]


I read Oryx and Crake when it came out, and I liked it a lot, and even remember defending it from one of my friend's attacks on its "pretentiousness." But it's faded from my memory and I have only the slightest remnants of the plot. Haven't read the other two, but will probably reread O and C or else I'll be really lost from the onset, and I hate that.
posted by zardoz at 11:45 PM on June 4, 2014 [1 favorite]


yes, I'm aware of the controversy with Atwood and SF, and that she has kinda sorta written a few SF novels.

Previously.
posted by ninebelow at 12:23 AM on June 5, 2014


Some vague MaddAddam spoilers (more spoilers about my feelings than plot spoilers):

I read Oryx and Crake when it came out, and reread it this year in order to follow up with the other two. O&C stands up. It's relatively plotless but has wonderful momentum.
For me the feel of the story changes drastically after the first one and a half books. I'm wary to talk about the third once since so many seem not to have read it. I'd love an adaptation of the first book, weaving in lot of the second, but less so the direction it goes in following (even though it's the later books get some proper Atwood heroines).
posted by distorte at 12:27 AM on June 5, 2014


I've only read the first two: I was astonished at just how very conventional it was in terms of science fiction. The gradual finding-out of what happened, the future tech: it reads like absolutely classic science fiction. But with far, far better women characters.

Pretty bleak, though.
posted by alasdair at 12:59 AM on June 5, 2014 [1 favorite]


Here be spoilers, for those that have not read Maddaddam or indeed any of the books.

The Craker men all singing and waving their erect penises in unison and their mating frenzies are going to be difficult to translate into US friendly television. They are going to be sympathetic characters who attempt to group rape one of the female characters, who has just been group raped IIRC.

Also, I found that I couldn't build an extension of the suspension of my disbelief for idea that they had the innate ability to converse with the pigoons. I guess Crake the super genius hardwired that ability in. Him being the wizard of genetics and all.

While I am griping, I also found it a bit difficult to believe that Crake could somehow kill Oryx with one knife cut to the throat. I would have thought that she would be alive for a while. *Looks up carotid artery severing info* OK. If he cut the carotid artery on both sides then she would be brain dead as she hit the floor and there would be a fountain of blood. However, once again IIRC, Jimmy shoots him as he is slicing, so very unlikely to get both of them. The trachea is pretty tough, he just wouldn't have had time to completely sever it. Jimmy could have saved her if the medical technology at that moment was consistent with the rest of the story (or even present day technology). Considering that was the love of his life you would have thought that even Jimmy might have put a little bit more effort into saving her life. There would have been some medical staff available at that time. All that was needed in that universe would be a pill she could have taken that would make it all fix up in no time!
posted by asok at 2:20 AM on June 5, 2014


The Craker men all singing and waving their erect penises in unison and their mating frenzies are going to be difficult to translate into US friendly television.

Not for nothing is their marketing tagline: "It's not TV, it's HBO..."

I've never even SEEN Game of Thrones, but all the "OH SHIT" reactions have me certain HBO will get the Craker dick right.
posted by ersatzkat at 4:33 AM on June 5, 2014 [1 favorite]


Having said that, when asked to name my "most favorite writer, living division" - it's Atwood. Cannot wait to see some of her stuff jump medium.
posted by ersatzkat at 4:34 AM on June 5, 2014 [2 favorites]


PIGOONS!!!! YES!
I'm simultaneously excited and scared.
Also, I want a rakunk almost as much as a billy-bumbler. Oy = FTW
posted by the_royal_we at 4:57 AM on June 5, 2014


Yeah that pigoon communication was whimisical shit.
posted by angrycat at 5:22 AM on June 5, 2014 [1 favorite]


This is exciting news! Oryx and Crake really captured something scary in the American zeitgeist and it still feels very prescient.

I have to wonder about the choice of director. Aronofsky is a capable enough filmmaker (though really middlebrow and not incredibly original). I fear he's a bit too self-serious for this source material. I imagine his natural instinct is going to be to make this a very dark, glowering portrayal of a grim dystopia. I don't see how one could get words like "pigoon," "painballer," and "ANooYoo" to work with that kind of tone. Call me crazy, but I feel like Repo Man era Alexander Cox tag-teaming with Terry Gilliam would have been the ideal (though that may be a bit too wacky).

What did you guys think of the third book? I thought it was the weakest of the three. Zeb's backstory was great, though. It was cool to follow him as he moved all around that society's class structure.
posted by One Second Before Awakening at 6:09 AM on June 5, 2014 [1 favorite]


I went through O&C pretty fast when it came out and YotF almost as fast but have been struggling with the third book. I found the second book to be way bleaker than the first and I do not like zombie apocalypse plotting at all. Have stopped reading the third book for mostly this reason.

That said, I really liked the first book because it felt just barely outside the realm of possibility and I thought the forward-backward pacing worked really well. I have no idea how HBO will be able to bring alive Crake's children though. Will be interesting to see.
posted by tksh at 6:53 AM on June 5, 2014


I'm happy for Atwood, my favorite writer, but I'm kinda bummed about this. These books have such a fantastic world, and there is no way a screen adaptation will work for me. I'm not sure I can even watch it. It pains me a little that everything I love in print is demanded to be expressed again, in visual form. A book can stay a fantastic book, it doesn't need to be "re-imagined" into a show or a film.

However, if there is full frontal blue male nudity with beautiful penises, I suppose I'm on board.
posted by agregoli at 7:19 AM on June 5, 2014


olinerd: "Hasn't there been a move to describe this kind of fiction as "spec-fi" (speculative) versus "sci-fi"? I find that nicely covers a lot of dystopian stuff, without implying spaceships and aliens."

The term Speculative Fiction has been around for at least forty years but doesn't seem to have managed to stick.
posted by octothorpe at 7:43 AM on June 5, 2014


Atwood, in her recent book of essays on science fiction, has made it pretty clear that the whole "speculative fiction" vs "science fiction" vs "fantasy" thing is basically a semantics / nomenclature argument. She describes a conversation with Ursula Le Guinn as something of an "a ha!" moment, where she realizes what she (Atwood) calls "science fiction" Le Guinn and others would call "science fantasy," and that what she (Atwood) calls "speculative fiction" others call "science fiction."

It's also clear to anyone who reads her nonfiction (see: her entire book of essays about science fiction), her reviews, etc., that she has always read genre fiction and has deep familiarity with it. But having to "prove" that feels dangerously close to making demands that suspected "fake geek girls" "prove" their geek credentials.

Actually, I'm routinely amazed anyone would ever want to shut down one of the most powerful living voices writing about gender, ecology, and exploitation - a popular writer whose political value to progressives is remarkably high - simply because she broke some arcane rule of geek culture when quibbling about semantics more than a decade ago.

Anyway: I have faith that HBO can do this right and do it well. Atwood is such an open-minded anti-snob genre-hopper that I believe she'll be actively involved, and I imagine HBO will welcome and value her involvement. My hopes are high.
posted by erlking at 9:18 AM on June 5, 2014 [9 favorites]


I read Oryx & Crake when it was released. My only vague remembrance was the horrifying image of the octo-chicken -- a genetically-engineered terror consisting of chicken drumsticks attached to the digestive tract of an octopus.

The Internet does not seem to mention this creature. Did I dream this up?
posted by gox3r at 11:34 AM on June 5, 2014


ChickieNobs! And Bucket o' Nubbins. Only I thought it was eight-breasted rather than legged, white meat being the goal.
posted by Flannery Culp at 11:59 AM on June 5, 2014


Don't forget The Simpsons' Octo-Parrot. "Wrrawwwk! Polly should not be!"
posted by Sticherbeast at 12:21 PM on June 5, 2014


This should be fun; I'm looking forward to it. All three books had disappointing endings, so I'm curious how a medium more focused on sequential storytelling will adapt that.
posted by klangklangston at 12:44 PM on June 5, 2014


my review of the third book is that it is an interesting failure. i've no idea why Atwood, a writer I greatly admire, made the choice to change the POV in the last act

Oryx and Crake is really good. I really can't remember what happened in the second. So all the plenty is vanquished and the aftermath is this beautiful stuff where blue-penis guys are singing. I like the dystopia and the destruction of it, but find the aftermath kind of boring.
posted by angrycat at 1:17 PM on June 5, 2014


I felt the same way about Never Let Me Go - writers unfamiliar with a genre jump in and produce something that was done, arguably much better, at least thirty years ago.

Who's done it better? Never Let me Go had amazing writing and characters even though the sci-fi elements weren't unique.
posted by ersatz at 5:08 PM on June 5, 2014 [1 favorite]


Haven't read the third book yet - I loved the first two, but the amount and brutality of rape in YOTF really got to me. I like Aronofsky and want to see these brought to film, but - especially in light of how far HBO is willing to go with Game of Thrones - I am pretty worried. Am hoping having Atwood on board through this will keep it from being exploitative.
posted by Mchelly at 8:42 PM on June 5, 2014


Darren Aronofsky is developing

AWESOME

Margaret Atwood's

Fuck.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 11:43 AM on June 6, 2014


I had the reverse reaction, myself.
posted by One Second Before Awakening at 12:08 PM on June 6, 2014 [3 favorites]


I like them both.
posted by davidjmcgee at 1:39 PM on June 6, 2014


Some people really like Requiem for a Dream I guess.
posted by shakespeherian at 6:57 PM on June 6, 2014


I really REALLY like Noah.
posted by davidjmcgee at 7:59 PM on June 6, 2014


Time to finally get cracking on the books, I reckon.
posted by homunculus at 12:21 PM on June 7, 2014


MetaFilter: if there is full frontal blue male nudity with beautiful penises, I suppose I'm on board.
posted by homunculus at 12:21 PM on June 7, 2014 [1 favorite]






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