Twenty years after Terry Gilliam’s 12 Monkeys hit theaters, the story will be told again on television.
The “12 Monkeys” TV series has officially been given a series order by Syfy, with a first season of 12 episodes to premiere on the network in 2015.
The 12 Monkeys film was inspired by the short film La Jetée and featured Bruce Willis, Madeleine Stowe and Brad Pitt in the leading roles. For the “12 Monkeys” TV series, Aaron Stanford will take over Willis’ role as James Cole and Amanda Schull stepping into Stowe’s shoes as Dr. Cassandra Railly. Other cast members include Zeljko Ivanek, Shannon Lucio. Noah Bean and Kirk Acevedo.
For television, the storyline has been altered by the screenwriting team of Terry Matalas & Travis Fickett into “a captivating time travel adventure and high stakes race against the clock” as Cole (Stanford) is sent backwards in time to the present in order to prevent the spread of a plague that will cause his post-apocalyptic future.
In the original 12 Monkeys movie, Cole’s mission was to get a pure sample of the virus so that a cure could be developed for the people of the future. Let’s just say that it didn’t work out very well for Cole.
“12 Monkeys” is expected to debut on Syfy in January 2015.
