Dan Simmons's 'Hyperion' Becoming TV Series Under Syfy & Bradley Cooper

Bradley Cooper finally gets his wish. The actor teams up with Syfy channel to produce Dan Simmon's 1989 sci-fi novel, "Hyperion," The LA Times reports. Cooper wanted to adapt the the novel for years, but none has pushed through so far until recently. The actor had written the screenplay for what was intended to be a movie back in 2011, says io9.

Syfy announced that the TV adaptation of the novel will appear exclusively under the channel. Cooper will serve as the executive producer. Among the producers are Graham King ("Argo") and Todd Phillips ("The Hangover"). The TV series will not employ Cooper's screenplay, but rather writer Itamar Moses, who penned HBO's "Boardwalk Empire", will be the one to adapt the novel for the small screen. Though Cooper penned the early version of the script, the actor told Hitfix that he does not consider himself as a writer.

Back in 2011, Cooper showed King his early work on the script for the novel. King is the current owner of the rights to the novel. "My friend and I, Conal Byrne, went to Graham King," Cooper said in his interview with Charlie Rose. "We wrote a treatment on spec, saying, 'Look, I know this is a very audacious endeavor, but can you just read this spec we wrote? We think we have a way in to tell the story. So we wrote it and now we're negotiating to write the script for it." It seemed that King was sold on Cooper's idea and decided to co-produce the TV series.

"Hyperion" is the first book to be part of a four-book saga written by Dan Simmons. Released in 1989, the story follows seven characters, called pilgrims, who are in search for answers to life's mysteries in the 28th century. As they embarked through their journey, the backstories of each of the pilgrims begins to unfold and the reasons for travelling are revealed. Among the interesting characters in "Hyperion" include priests, a soldier, a detective, a scholar, and a poet, who wrote the stories in poetry form. "Hyperion" has similar themes and storytelling technique used by Geoffrey Chaucer in "The Canterbury Tales".

"It is an absolute honor to enter into the world created by Dan Simmons that is arguably one of the greatest works of science fiction, and help realize it for television audiences," Cooper said in the press release.

"Hyperion" will definitely be visual spectacle on TV, with how future was described in detail in the book. Hopefully, Cooper's enthusiasm on the project will bring Simmons' story to new heights.

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