H.G. Wells’ classic novel is being adapted for the small screen as The Hollywood Reporter today brings word that an Island of Doctor Moreau series is being developed for CBS with “Sleepy Hollow” co-creator Phillip Iscove scripting. According to the trade, the new version, titled Moreau, will take place in a contemporary setting and will reverse the gender of the title character, following Dr. Katherine Moreau and her own explorations into mad science.
First published in 1896, Wells’ The Island of Doctor Moreau follows shipwreck survivor Edward Prendick, who winds up on the mysterious Noble’s Isle. There, the titular Moreau, a former London physiologist, has taken to experimenting on animals and, through vivisection, has created human-like beasts.
The Moreau series is far from the first adaptation of the source material. Five different big screen takes have already been released to in theaters over the decades with another theatrical version in development at Warner Bros. Pictures and Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way. That version is being scripted by “Hemlock Grove” scribes Brian McGreevy and Lee Shipman and has DiCaprio producing alongside Jennifer Davisson Killoran and Michael Connolly of Mad Hatter Entertainment.
Iscove will also executive produce the new Moreau series through CBS Television Studios with Frank Marshall and Robert Zotnowski also producing through the Kennedy/Marshall Company.
H.G. Wells’ original novel has long since lapsed into the public domain and the full text is available for free online at Project Gutenberg.
