Kavalier And Clay Series In The Works At Showtime

Showtime is developing a new series based on the celebrated novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by author Michael Chabon, Variety reports. The series will see Chabon as an executive producer, coming as part of a new overall deal he has inked with ViacomCBS, the parent company of both Showtime and ComicBook.com. Chabon was already working with CBS All Access, as one of the executive producers on the forthcoming Star Trek: The Next Generation sequel, Picard. Chabon’s wife and producing partner, Ayelet Waldman, has inked a similar deal and will also serve as an executive producer on the Kavalier and Clay series.

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay is a fictional biography of a pair of golden age comic book creators. A pair of Jewish immigrants, they break into the comics industry and experience the ups and downs of their generation — from economic woes to the Comics Code Authority crackdown of the early ’50s to a romantic story that runs through their entire lives. Along the way, the cousins create a character called The Escapist, who becomes a big commercial hit.

Dark Horse Comics followed up Kavalier and Clay with a number of comic book miniseries centering on The Escapist. While some were relatively straightforward superhero stories featuring the character himself, the best was Brian K. Vaughan and Jason Alexander’s The Escapists, about a new generation of young comics creators who try to buy the rights to The Escapist, and how, in the famous words of legendary comics creator Jack Kirby, “comics will break your heart.”

According to the Variety story, Kavalier and Clay is described as “an epic tale of love, war and the birth of America’s comic book superhero obsession in big-band-era New York City.” Star Trek veterans Akiva Goldsman and Alex Kurtzman are also attached to the project as executive producers.

“Ayelet and Michael are two of America’s pre-eminent writers,” said David Stapf, President, CBS Television Studios. “From award-winning novels and non-fiction to their television and film collaborations, they have a remarkable body of work. We’re thrilled to have them on our incredibly talented roster.”

Besides Kavalier and Clay, Chabon has written a number of best-selling and award-winning books, some of which (Wonder Boys, Mysteries of Pittsburgh) have already been translated into film. He has also worked regularly in Hollywood, as a script doctor, a writer, and reportedly as part of the Hasbro story committee a few years back. He is best known among geeks for his screenplays to John Carter and Spider-Man 2.