Leigh Whannell is teaming up with Blumhouse Television and UCP to create a sequel TV series to his 2018 action-horror film Upgrade.
In the original film, a man left paralysed after a vicious attack regains his mobility and embarks on a quest for vengeance with the help of an AI-based implant called STEM, which heightens his physical abilities. The series will be set a few years after the events of the film and will feature an evolved version of STEM that has been repurposed by the government to help curb criminal activity.
Whannell will direct, co-create, and executive produce the series, with day-to-day showrunner duties falling to co-creator and executive producer Tim Walsh (Treadstone). A writers’ room has already been set up, where Whannell and Walsh will be joined by Krystal Houghton Ziv and James Roland (both of whom executive produced the second season of The Purge).
Jason Blum and Brian Kavanaugh-Jones will also serve as executive producers on the series, which is the first project to come out of the first-look deal that Whannell recently signed with Blumhouse.
Words: Samantha McLaren (@themeatispeople)
