Word about a TV adaptation of Stephen King’s novel Under The Dome first broke back in 2011, with news that Green Lantern co-writer Michael Green would be adapting it for DreamWorks’ goggle-box department. Since then it has been pitched to, and developed at, US cable channel Showtime. But it has now jumped ship for network television, ending up at CSI home base CBS.
Comics creator (and Lost writer) Brian K Vaughan is currently in charge of shepherding the project to screens. It’ll tell the story of Chester Mill, a small New England town that is suddenly and inexplicably cut off from the outside world by an impermeable barrier. As apocalyptic conditions develop inside the dome, the residents must fight to survive and discover what happened to make it appear and, more importantly, how they can get rid of it.
“This is a great novel coming to the television screen with outstanding auspices and in-season production values to create a summer programming event,” says CBS prez Nina Tassler, in a statement picked up by EW. “We’re excited to transport audiences Under the Dome and into the extraordinary world that Stephen King has imagined.”
With King and Steven Spielberg executive producing this one, it is currently planned for a 13-episode first season run, most likely next summer, with the door left open for more shows after that.