Warren Ellis’ Global Frequency was a clever spin on the conspiracy thriller; a covert agency is formed, not to topple governments or pave the way for aliens, but to clean up the mistakes made by said governments and protect people from the fallout. If that sounds like it would make for a great TV series, Jerry Bruckheimer is way ahead of you… or, rather, he’s getting caught up.
You might remember that nearly a decade ago, The WB actually commissioned a pilot based on the series, and then passed on it. What happened next, though, was unusual; the pilot leaked to torrent sites, and found a huge fanbase.
In 2014, that would have saved the show, but this was 2005; networks hated and feared BitTorrent, so they wrote it off as a fluke and killed the project entirely. But, thanks to the pilot’s fanbase, Warner Bros. has spent the next decade trying to redevelop it as a series.
According to Deadline, they’ve finally made it work. Even better, they’ve got Rockne S. O’Bannon, who you might remember from Farscape, writing the pilot for Fox. Unfortunately, they’re trying to make it sound as generic as possible:
The show will chronicle the workings of The Global Frequency, a privately funded crime-fighting operation that uses worldwide crowd-sourcing to solve crimes the police cannot. Bruckheimer, Jonathan Littman, Warren Ellis and O’Bannon will executive produce and KristieAnne Reed will co-executive produce for Jerry Bruckheimer TV and Warner Bros. TV.
Keep in mind, the actual comic has them hunting cyborgs, memetic viruses where the cure makes you bisexual, and angels. One assumes that if O’Bannon is involved, they’re keeping the SF edge instead of turning this into Person Of Interest: Miami, but the generic plot summary is a bit worrying.
On the other hand, fans of the show, which is still hugely popular and traded online, are probably feeling vindicated, and Ellis’ involvement, even at the executive producer level, is a good sign. Besides, if they can make a Batman series without Batman actually work, we’ve got high hopes for this.