While Leigh Whannell shut down the idea of an Upgrade movie sequel, he never ruled out a TV show.
A Modern RoboCop?
Imagine a world where all of our problems could be solved if we just get technologically enhanced. What would that look like? How would it be regulated? There have been great movies in the past like Total Recall, games like Cyberpunk 2077, and even recent anime like Cyberpunk: Edgerunner that show us the grim reality of a capitalist world that relies more and more on technology. Upgrade explores this even further.
Blumhouse is already working on a script for an Upgrade spin-off TV show, and it looks like they are ready to rework the script until they get an order.
Not much is known about the TV series besides its basic principles, that it will pick up a few years after the events of the movie, and that the central idea is to broaden the cyberpunk universe of Upgrade with an evolved version of STEM, the experimental advanced computer chip technology that was briefly explored in the movie. The series will bring in a brand-new protagonist/host for the show and wants to imagine a world in which the government repurposes the technology of STEM to help stop criminal activity in their ever-growing technological city. Basically, a more modern RoboCop.
Leigh Whannall, the brilliant mind behind the prequel movie, will co-create and showrunner the project. Tim Walsh of Treadstone and Shooter will co-create and executive produce it.
The 2018 Movie
Praised as one of the most cutting-edge, gritty sci-fi thrillers of the year, Upgrade was a cyberpunk thriller directed by Leigh Whannell (from Insidious and The Invisible Man).
Upgrade is set in the near future when technology has taken control of nearly all aspects of life. Grey, a technophobe and mechanic, has his world turned upside down when his wife’s self-driving car malfunctions and crashes. Paralyzed from the accident and widowed, he sinks into a depression. The only way to set it the right way around again is an experimental computer chip implant (STEM), which would enable him to walk again and enhance his body. With his mobility restored and some extra abilities to boot, he decides to use his skills to seek revenge against the people who destroyed his life and cost him his wife.
Jason Blum On The Upgrade Show
Jason Blum is the CEO of Blumhouse and has been passionately involved with the Upgrade project, both the movie and the TV show. He shared an ambitious update with Collider about what his studio has planned for the TV series and is more than eager to expand on the world of Upgrade and get the series off the ground. Although seeming ambitious, he is hoping for a straight-to-series order.
“Upgrade should have been a wide release. I was pissed about that. We’re working on a TV show. So working on the scripts. This first round didn’t come out. I didn’t get the response I wanted to get. I don’t want to be in development, I want an order. We’re working on the scripts again, so that we can get an order. And I don’t want to develop it.”
With the recent release and success of Cyberpunk: Edgerunner, the genre is in the spotlight at the moment, and epic titles appear to be emerging from the darkness. We cannot wait for further updates on the sequel series.
What do you want to see in an Upgrade TV series?
Upgrade |
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STEM provides Grey with all the heightened abilities he needs to take revenge on the men who ruined his life, but he realizes far too late that there is something much more insidious behind STEM's actions. |
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| Creator: Tim Walsh, Leigh Whannell |
| Cast: TBA |
| Genre: Action, Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi |
| Number of Seasons: 1 |
| Streaming Service: TBA |
