SyFy & David Goyer Developing “Krypton” A New Superman Origin Series

DC/WB is developing a new show on SyFy called “Krypton” with David Goyer producing, Hollywood Reporter reports.

Ian Goldberg of Once Upon a Time and FlashForward will pen the script and executive produce with Goyer, from a story conceived by the pair.

Presumably following the House of El and likely inspired by John Byrne’s World of Krypton miniseries, telling tales of an iconic DC Comics locale but without the benefit of its most recognizable resident.

The project was rumored back in October, with no network attached, but there was a good deal of skepticism about it, as it would be expensive to do right, embarrassing for all involved to do wrong.

While Gotham drew some early comparisons to Smallville, the rumored Krypton is arguably more like Gotham than Gotham ever was to Smallville, if only because the series would never include Superman, focusing instead on the House of El, Brainiac, The Eradicator, Kryptonian mythology and the like. Mertron and Doomsday would presumably be fertile ground.

Goyer’s work on Man of Steel could suggest what kind of Krypton we might see: very inspired by John Byrne’s 1986 The Man of Steel and the 15 or so years of comics that came after, with little or no tights-wearing Kryptonians and a sterile, scientific culture. Of course, it would be nearly impossible to work Man of Steel‘s Krypton into a TV budget and having just invested a ton in creating a really unique and visually striking take on Krypton, it would seem like a massive step backwards to go with something cheaper.

There are no further details on the rumored project, no timetable and no comment from Warner Bros. Television, with whom Goyer works on Constantine. At on point Russell Crowe, who played Jor-El in Man of Steel, was interested in pursuing a prequel film or even franchise, but it’s wildly unlikely he would move to cable TV unless it was for a presige-format miniseries a la True Detective.