John Scalzi's beloved novel Redshirts is heading over to FX to be adapted into a TV series! Wonderful.
Deadline is reporting that Scalzi's novel, centered around the expendable members of the Starship Intrepid crew, is being adapted for an FX series by producers Jon Shestack (Dan In Real Life), Ken Kwapis (The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants) and Alexandra Beattie (Outsourced). The series is currently looking for writers to translate the novel for TV, and Kwapis is set to direct the pilot.
Here's the official book synopsis from Amazon:
Ensign Andrew Dahl has just been assigned to the Universal Union Capital ShipIntrepid, flagship of the Universal Union since the year 2456. It's a prestige posting, with the chance to serve on "Away Missions" alongside the starship's famous senior officers.
Life couldn't be better…until Andrew begins to realize that 1) every Away Mission involves a lethal confrontation with alien forces, 2) the ship's senior officers always survive these confrontations, and 3) sadly, at least one low-ranking crew member is invariably killed. Unsurprisingly, the savvier crew members belowdecks avoid Away Missions at all costs.
Then Andrew stumbles on information that transforms his and his colleagues' understanding of what the starship Intrepid really is…and offers them a crazy, high-risk chance to save their own lives.
This is perfectly in line with FX's sense of humor, which, if you've seen Archer, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, The League, or any of their other comedies, you know is extremely good. Can't wait to find out who they're going to cast.