Douglas Adams' iconic sci-fi comedy The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy began its life on radio before the writer turned it into a successful series of novels. From there, it spawned a TV show and an ambitious, fun but less-than blockbuster movie. It's cycled back to small screens, as Deadline reports that US streaming service Hulu is developing a new show based on the stories.
Lost veteran Carlton Cuse (who has since worked on the likes of Jack Ryan and the upcoming Locke & Key adaptation) will work with Wonder Woman's Jason Fuchs on a fresh adaptation of the story starring hapless Earth resident Arthur Dent, who is thrust into an intergalactic adventure alongside pal and alien hitchhiker Ford Prefect after the planet is destroyed to make way for a space-route bypass. Along the way, he'll meet all manner of strange creatures as we're guided around the galaxy by the titular talking book. Whether Cuse and Fuchs will start again at the beginning of the story or jump into some of the many other avenues explored by Adams remains to be seen, but we'd figure they'll want to kick off with Arthur to help usher new viewers into the tale.
Can the series work? That remains to be seen, but outside of radio and the books, TV feels like a more natural home for the story than the big screen, and with both budgets and effects technology leaping ahead in the years since the novels arrived, it should at least look good.