It was once the most expensive movie ever made — and of course it didn’t make much of a profit. But Waterworld, the first post-apocalyptic fiasco starring Kevin Costner did better than the second such film, namely 1997’s The Postman. It may have even aged well — or so claims the producer who’s exhuming it for today’s IP revival craze, giving it a sequel, albeit in the form of a TV series, not a super pricey blockbuster that’s a bear to make.
As first reported by Collider, John Davis, one of the original film’s producers, is looking to return to the sizeable Waterworld well, saying he’s working on “he streaming version of that movie, the continuation of that movie.” What does that mean exactly? Well, Davis says it’s all in the early stages, but the hope is to catch up with the characters “20 years later. All those people, 20 years later.”
Does that mean Costner’s back? Or co-stars Jeanne Tripplehorn and Tina Majorino? Who knows at this point! But the series already has a director: Dan Trachtenberg, of 10 Cloverfield Lane as well as the pilot of The Boys and the freaky Black Mirror episode with Wyatt Russell. Trachtenberg is currently helming the Predator prequel Skull, also for Davis. The Waterworld series has yet to find a home, though Davis names Peacock as a possible destination.
Waterworld is set in far-flung 2500, when sea levels have risen so high that all seven continents are under water. Costner played a mutant known only as the Mariner — a drifter who happens to have gills, and who helps out some nice people against some evil people, who are known as the Smokers, after their love for inhaling nicotine. One can watch it on Peacock.
(Via Collider)