Variety has word that 1212 Entertainment and Anonymous Content are working together to adapt The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin to television. Theo Downes-Le Guin, son of the author, is also participating in the development process.
The 1974 novel that won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards, The Dispossessed is the story of two worlds at odds after ages of distrust, and the work that must be done to bring them together in the wake of a great scientific discovery that changes both societies’ understanding of the universe and their place within it.
It is a story that feels particularly relevant to the here and now, which both groups noted: 1212’s Joshua Long and Roberto Grande noted “Ursula K. Le Guin’s ‘The Dispossessed’ has a visceral connection to the present and so accurately matches the world we’re living in right now,” and Anonymous Content’s chief creative officer, David Levine added that the novel was “[…]a well-crafted exploration of the current schism in our society and can offer us a path of reconciliation without accusations, condescension, and judgement, one that is both escapist and thought-provoking at the same time.”
There is no writer or network attached to the project as of yet, but the intention is to turn the book into a limited series. With any luck, we’ll get to see Le Guin’s “ambiguous utopia” on screen before long.
I am old enough to remember when you could say about a Sci fi or fantasy novel: “Great story but unfilmable” meaning the special effects could never render the imagined world with verisimilitude. That is, perhaps, no longer true. Jackson’s LOTR trilogy was a successful re-telling because we have the special effects technologies and because the screenplay adaptation was faithful. Le Guin’s “The dispossesed” is perhaps unfilmable, or difficult to achieve, because of its depth and layers of complexity. It was, in part, an exploration of an anarchist society, a capitalist one, and a state-socialist one. The ambiguous utopia could refer to anarchist Annares or capitalist society on Urras. Le Guin’s sympathies were with the first and from that position she explored its faults. And it is far more than this. I am not sure which media corporation / production team could handle all the content authentically. I hope there is one. The only decent full cast productions of Earthsea and The left hand of darkness have been BBC audio ones
Best news all year. I am so happy to see Ursula K. Le Guin get noticed for a tv series. I hope her other work follows!!! So excited.
Just started the Wizard of Earthsea …. man I feel lucky!
@2 Adam: There was also the 1980 PBS production of The Lathe of Heaven, with which Le Guin was involved.
@makvolund: This PBS adaptation of The Lathe of Heaven was the only filmic/TV adaptation of Le Guin’s work that was worth watching. All other attempts were very bad. So I am not looking forward to a Dispossessed series, because I do not think they even will try to do it well. We will be disappointed, I am afraid.
There are 2 versions of Lathe Of Heaven, both are fairly decent.
Anyone brave enough to try should be encouraged. Putting a Le Guin story on screen is a bit like trying to find other inhabited planets. Incredibly difficult but a fantastic goal.
I am not very reassured by this article which seems to think the book was about reconciling Urras and Anarres. I mean, sure there’s an aspect to the book that says communicating is better than isolating, but it also strongly says the Anarresti were right to leave, whatever the flaws in their attempts to build something better.
Plus I really do not want to map that onto current politics.