Buck Rogers TV Series Lands Writer Brian K. Vaughan

Comic book writer Brian K. Vaughan (Y: The Last Man) is partnering with Legendary for a new Buck Rogers TV series, based on the iconic pulp hero. Real Steel and Vampire Academy producers Don Murphy and Susan Montford are producing the Buck Rogers TV series through their Angry Films banner; Flint Dille, grandson of the Dille newspaper owners that first syndicated the Buck Rogers comic strip, is also involved. Legendary is said to be considering a “multi-platform, multi-medium” approach to bringing back Buck Rogers, in the forms of a “prestige television series,” a movie, and even an anime.

The original Buck Rogers series followed a man named Anthony (later retconned to “William”) Rogers, who is a World War I veteran. Upon returning home to Pennsylvania he goes to work as a mine inspector looking to detect radioactive gas (no way that could go wrong). Well, Rogers’ luck on the job eventually runs out, as one mine caves-in on him, releasing a gas that effectively leaves Rogers in a state of suspended animation for 492 years.

Rogers awakens in 2419 and is soon sucked into a new kind of futuristic American civil war, between the technologically-advanced “Hans” of America’s 15 great cities (and their airship fleet), and those left behind in the rural wilderness as roving gangs and clans. Rogers eventually allies with the American gangs and helps lead a revolt against the cities and the “Airlords.”

Buck Rogers become one of America’s earliest superhero prototypes, stretching from his first comic strip in 1929 into virtually all of the media that has followed thereafter. Buck Rogers inspired a radio program in 1932; starred in his own comic books since the 1940s; TV series in the 1950s and 1979-1981; a movie feature at the World’s Fair (193-1934), and a serial film (later recut into three feature films) from the late 30s. Buck Rogers has even been adapted for video games, novels, and nearly made it into a Web Series reboot that ultimately fell apart in the late 2000s.

Obviously, there are things about the Buck Rogers mythology that now resonate in a uniquely timely way than other attempts. Brian K. Vaughan could either stick to the original framework, with a future of 2419 that echoes 2020 a little too much; or he could update the story to a modern soldier who carries the ideals of our time (or lack thereof) into a future that shaped to look like the end consequence of where we’re headed.

No word on when (or how) Legendary is looking to premiere this new Buck Rogers series or any of its related projects.

Source: THR