Following Noah, Darren Aronofsky has turned his attention to a flood of a different kind. Via his Protozoa Pictures banner he's executive-producing, and may direct, a series for HBO based on Margaret Atwood's bestselling MaddAddam trilogy of novels.
The book trilogy comprises Oryx And Crake (2003), The Year Of The Flood (2009) and last year's MaddAddam. Starting about fifty years from now, it imagines a dystopian world laid waste by a bioengineered apocalypse: the "waterless flood" set in motion by an out-of-control corporate scientific establishment obsessed with genetic modification.
It's a complex and sprawling narrative - the first two books take place concurrently, and there are copious flashbacks to the world immediately pre-Flood - so well-suited to an episodic television format unfolding over many hours. The extensive cast of characters includes the hermit Snowman, for a while seemingly the last human; rogue geneticist Crake, responsible for the craetion of the post-human Crakers; Toby, another survivor who hooks up with the "God's Gardeners" eco-cult; and Adam One, the mysterious guru behind the Gardeners.
There are also pig people and the psychopathic gladiatorial "Painballers", and that's not the half of it. We can imagine a series, in Aronofsky's hands, resting somewhere in the tonal country between the Noah's strange fantasy world-building, the obfuscation of Pi, the savage darkness of Requiem For A Dream, the gothic romance of Black Swan and the mad sci-fi of The Fountain. Only on HBO...
MaddAddam is currently in the early stages of development, so there's no indication yet of when we might see it on screens. Aronofsky walked away from the spy thriller Red Sparrow earlier this year, but may still be tinkering with his long-gestating George Washington biopic The General. MaddAddam is the first fruit of a three-year first-look deal he has with HBO, so there's likely more to come.