Though he may not be quite as well known as the Hitchhikers gang, Douglas Adams’ Dirk Gently remains a popular character and one who has been adapted several times in different formats, most recently for the BBC with Stephen Mangan in the title role. Now Chronicle writer and Twitter chatterbox Max Landis is taking on the first script for a new version{
Comics publisher IDW is spearheading the new project under a TV deal it made back in October. There are few details about what the show will actually entail, but its concept will naturally be drawn from Adams’ 1987 tome Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency and its 1988 follow-up The Long Dark Tea-Time Of The Soul.
Both books follow Dirk, a man who investigates cases based on what he calls the "fundamental interconnectedness of all things.” He often works routine jobs, but also specialises in more supernatural and time-twisting fare. The books have inspired both the recent BBC series and the corporation’s 2007 Radio 4 version, which starred Harry Enfield. We’ll have to wait and see whether Landis and co. shift the stories to the States.
While The Hollywood Reporter broke the first word of Landis's involvement, Deadline carries a quote from the man himself: “Alongside the obvious yada yada I’m a lifelong fan, Long Dark Tea-Time Of The Soul is one of the best books ever,” said Landis. “Douglas Adams is a visionary who forever changed the way science fiction is written and talked about and even thought about and even the way real actual science is thought about and without whom our culture would be noticeably different for the worse.”
Landis, who is also finishing work on his feature directorial debut Me Him Her, has written the scripts for Paul McGuigan’s new Frankenstein and Jesse Eisenberg secret agent comedy drama American Ultra.