13 Years After Cancellation, a Cult Sci-Fi Comic is Finally Getting the TV Adaptation It Deserves

The past 14 years have been major for comic book adaptations. Thanks to the boom of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Hollywood studios realized that full franchises could be found in the pages of countless comics, giving us the likes of Invincible and The Boys on Prime Video, plus Umbrella Academy, Sweet Tooth, and Bodies on Netflix. Even now, as the MCU itself goes through a bit of a down period, comics continue to find their way to television and the big screen. Now, another is making its way out into the world, and it’s happening over a decade after its sudden conclusion.

Plot Point 1 Productions has announced today that Hamzah Jamjoom (Running Dry, How I Got There) and Alberto Lopez (Rupture, Esaaf) have optioned the cult sci-fi comic series Saucer Country for television, with plans to make it into a premium television drama. As comic readers may recall, Saucer Country first made its debut back in 2012 from DC’s Vertigo imprint, written by Paul Cornell (Doctor Who, I Walk With Monsters) and illustrated by Ryan Kelly (A Quiet Place, The New York Five), telling a timeless story about the search for the truth about alien life, and what our government really knows.

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Saucer Country Heads to TV After 13 Years

At the heart of Saucer Country is Arcadia Alvarado, the leading Democratic candidate for President of the United States, but the Mexican-American Governor of New Mexico has a secret: she was abducted by aliens. Given the political climate, she can’t make her true intentions known, but the quest for the truth can only be found in the highest office in the land, as the dark thriller blends UFO lore and alien abduction with political intrigue, creating a series born from The X-Files and The West Wing.

“Saucer Country is the most visually arresting graphic novel I’ve read in years,” Hamzah Jamjoom, Producer/Director said in a statement. “The composition is unnervingly precise and the closest thing I’ve seen to a shootable storyboard. It offers everything I have been waiting for: striking UFO imagery, cinematic portrayals of alien abductions and profound metaphors for the politics surrounding the phenomenon. There is an opportunity here to create something timely, grounded and socially relevant. We look forward to bringing the best talent to this project and sharing it with audiences worldwide.”

“Saucer Country is about how a mythology can be weaponised and how the search for ‘the
truth’ can be used to obscure it,” Paul Cornell, comic series co-creator (and writer for the TV pilot) added. “That’s a story we’re seeing played out in the headlines right now. I’m incredibly excited that my comic is going beyond the printed page, especially with a creative team that understands and loves the material. Get ready for a scary, intelligent and emotive ride.”

As noted, Saucer Country made its debut in comics back in 2012 from DC’s Vertigo, which cancelled the series after just fourteen issues despite critical acclaim and a Hugo Award nomination. In 2013, when news of its cancellation was confirmed, Cornell promised in a blog post that he would “one day, finish Saucer Country, in one way or another, in a dramatically satisfying way.” Readers know that Cornell kept his promise, delivering the sequel series Saucer State from IDW in 2017 with a finale published in 2024 from Syzygy Publishing, which also released a definitive collection of the entire story.