Gattaca TV Show Scrapped by Showtime

Showtime will no longer be moving forward with their planned TV adaptation of Gattaca. The network announced today that they had declined to pick up the series, which was to hail from Homeland producers Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa and Sony Pictures Television. The project was one of four that will no longer be going forward at Showtime, according to a new report at Variety. Seasoned, a series starring Mandy Patinkin that had previously been given a full season order, has been axed, as well as Split and Sweetness.

Development on Gattaca was announced back in March. It was originally announced at the same time Seasoned was ordered. The cancelled projects appear to be casualties of the Paramount+/Showtime app merger.

Earlier this week, Paramount+ also announced that they were removing Fantasy Football, The Game, Ghislaine: Partner in Crime, Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies, From Cradle to Stage, Inside Amy Schumer, Queen of the Universe, Snow Day, Star Trek: Prodigy, and Tell Me a Story from the platform, with at least Star Trek and Grease looking for potential new homes.

“The Paramount+ series Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies, Star Trek: Prodigy, Queen of the Universe, and The Game have completed their runs on Paramount+ and will not be returning to the service,” a Paramount+ spokesperson said on Friday. “We want to extend our thanks to our tremendously talented cast and crew and our producing partners for their passionate work and dedication on these programs, and we wish them all the best on their future endeavors.”

The original Gattaca film was released in 1997 with the dystopian film starring Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman, along with Jude Law, Alan Arkin and more. Written and directed by Andrew Niccol, the dystopian film was set in a near future where people utilized eugenics to screen their children for genetic defects and thus, created a lower class of people called “in-valids”. In the film Hawke’s character, Vincent, is an “in-valid” who takes on the identity of a genetically “superior” man, Jerome (Law) so that he can pursue his dream of space flight. The film wasn’t a commercial success but was a critical success and was praised for being both intelligent and scientifically provocative.  It was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Art Direction. The film has also since gone on to become a cult classic.

The Showtime series is not the first time an adaptation of Gattaca had been attempted. It was previously reported in 2009 that Sony Pictures Television was developing a police procedural take on the film, though that project — which was to have been written by Gil Grant — didn’t move forward.