'Waterworld' Sequel TV Series in the Works

Proving that in the streaming era every well-known genre title has reboot potential, a TV series sequel to the 1995 film Waterworld is in the works.

The original film’s producers, John Davis and John Fox, first revealed the news during an interview with Collider. The Hollywood Reporter confirmed the project is in early development at Universal Content Productions, where the producers have a first-look deal.

The project is planned as a continuation of the film picking up with the same characters 20 years later, though no actors are yet attached. The producers have said that Dan Trachtenberg (10 Cloverfield Lane) is on board to direct.

Waterworld was the story of a postapocalyptic world where the polar ice caps had melted (the film was admittedly prescient on the global warming front) and the entire planet was covered by water. Kevin Costner played an underwater-breathing, web-toed trimaran-sailing loner, The Mariner, who came to the aid of a woman (Jeanne Tripplehorn) and a girl (Tina Majorino) seeking the fabled “dry land.”

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The film, directed by Kevin Reynolds, saw its budget swell to a then-record $175 million amid production troubles, including a hurricane off the coast in Hawaii that wiped out its elaborate set.

Critics were pretty negative upon the film’s release, but Waterworld‘s accompanying reputation as a massive box office bomb (it was dubbed “Fishtar” and “Kevin’s Gate” in the press) has been a tad overstated. While the film grossed only $88 million domestically, it picked up another $172 million overseas — still a disappointment, but it was a failure largely relative to its massive budget. Any modern take on the material would almost certainly avoid the production difficulty of shooting on the ocean given new technology that’s available, such as the immersive in-studio LED screens used by The Mandalorian. The film is also known for spawning a long-running stunt show at the Universal Studios theme park.

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