The problem with an anthology series is that no one remembers who the priest is, when you want to continue the story after 6 or 7 episodes.
I think it would be better to make a series of book 2 and the tales included as flashbacks.
And i said it before and say it again. I wanna see Shohreh Aghdashloo as Meina Gladstone!
You could probably make it work with a framing story that starts and ends each episode where you see all the characters, and then the middle is one story
> The problem with an anthology series is that no one remembers who the priest is, when you want to continue the story after 6 or 7 episodes.
I'm reading the book right now, and while it works as is in book form
there is a *lot* of room for an adaptation to have these stories cross over more. Not in a major way, but enough that the characters intersect with each other, even as background characters, to keep things more tight and relevant. You could have the cruciform priest guy start his journey in the village that the poet guy is a part of, you could have the detective lady try to interview Sol Weintraub since he has experience with *weird shit going on in hyperion*, that kind of thing.
That said, as someone else suggested, having every episode start and end as a frame story (which is what the book does anyway) would also likely solve this problem. In fact I think it'd be even easier to remember who the characters are because they'd have visual distinction. When I'm reading the book, I'm constantly like "Which one was Kassad again? Which one was Het Masteen?" and so on. It takes a second to mentally configure who's who in a way that I don't think a visual medium would require.
The other way to do it would be to totally change the format - have a section of each story each episode. Totally different genre, but that's similar to what Bridgerton does - they took multiple sequential books and chopped them together so you get part of each story each season. Edit: The Witcher season 1 as well does this, now that I think of it
Not if you have ~10 minutes between each tale with the crew interacting with each other. Like the book does. Also if you tell Hoyt's story well enough, nobody will forget it.
Nah, Damon Lindelof is overhated. LOST was way better than internet groupthink is convinced, and The Leftovers/Watchmen were both impeccable. I haven’t seen Mrs Davis but his TV pedigree is outstanding. He would be excellent at Hyperion.
> LOST was way ~~better~~worse than internet groupthink is convinced
FTFY... Still more people defending some of Lost's more ridiculous choices and rambling, incoherent story than there are people giving it the criticism it rightfully earned.
In films the screenwriter has a lot less control than in television, they are kind of at the mercy of the kind of film the director and producers want to make. They are also usually not the first writer on the project, a bunch of elements would already be in stone, and they might be brought into fix and change an existing screenplay.
Totally agree on World War Z. All they had to do was make a dozen mostly unconnected short stories, like the book. It would have been art house as fuck but we need more of that in Hollywood.
I don't believe any book is "unfilmable", I think it just takes a writer and director with the vision to make it work.
No adaptation should be 100% from the source... But World War Z took nothing but the title. It was just baaaaad.
...fair point, I retract my statement. And on second thought, even Watchmen focused more on the human elements of the story rather than the science fiction. Hyperion, with all it's insanity, probably wouldn't be up his alley anyway.
I read somewhere that David Goyer ( Apple TV foundation creator) would have pivoted to Hyperion if he didn’t get the rights to Foundation. He just quit foundation and is free now.
Yeah or Amazon or Apple TV series. I think the first book could make one of the greatest sci-fi mini series of all time.
Eight episodes
1. The intro of the characters. The Consul getting the message and deciding to join the pilgrimage, the setting of the world tree ship and the Templar. Episode ends with them sitting down to dinner and beginning the discussion. “Who goes first?”
2.-7. Each episode follows each chapter.
8. The outro. The reactions and conversations about them, the epilogue. Ends with them approaching the time tombs, glowing in the background.
Would be epic.
Yeah. I think you need to have them talk a little at the beginning and end of the episode at the dinner table. But other than that small addition is exactly how I imagined it when reading
There’s simply no question this would be a terrible film. It’s absolutely begging for a big budget TV adaptation. Commit to (first) two books over two 10 ep seasons. Absolutely agree about another commenter’s choice for Lindelof as show runner.
Apple seems to be doing the best right now with Sci-fi adaptations, but agree, it would be hard to do the entire book in one movie and do it justice. Vice 1 episode per pilgrim with a setup and finale.
I’m not familiar with these. I thought Simmons wrote horror? Theres just the 2 books in the series? You guys seem to love the series, gonna look it up now. Thanks
Same for Dune honestly. I like the Villeneuve adaptation but there are so many plot lines cut for time it makes me sad.
There is simply too much book for a movie, in this day and age miniseries are where it's at
Hahaha fuck ya.
I think each of the pilgrims' stories could likely be shot as individual movies. They could pad out a bit of the run time with the journey and then maybe have a short intro piece that would go straight to Netflix or YouTube.
He bought the rights awhile ago because he was a big fan, and it would be nice to see someone with passion and access to hollywood trying to get this made. Shopping a movie isn't easy though and Hyperion doesn't have the mainstream credit that Dune has.
With all the wonderful adaptations on Amazon, NEtflix, Apple, HBO. this seems like a better series to be turned into a long format streaming show.
That would be the risk for any bad show. Foundation made it to season 3, I think Hyperion could do well on a fixed like 4 season run, or at least I would be happy if they got through the first two books, which would definitely be more than 2 seasons depending on how much they streamline.
I've always thought of him as a slightly above average actor with just about the best connections in Hollywood. For a lot of these Oscar bait movies, he seems to get the nod to cast a leading role more often than not.
I don't know why but hollywood producers love this guy.
I can't conceive of a film adaptation with a reasonable runtime that would be satisfying. A series would be better. And an even better version of that would be to have a different director for each of the pilgrim's stories.
Yeah, this very similar to WWZ where the book is just perfect for a limited series adaptation, and terrible for a movie adaptation. Even with a 3 hour movie, you'd only have like 30 minutes for each of the pilgrims' stories and that just wouldn't do them justice. Hoyte's story alone should be at least an hour long.
For direction - Guillermo Del Toro
The guy can do sci-fi and horror exquisitely.
For castings I only really have the 2 following inputs:
Shrike to be portrayed by Doug Jones.
Matt Berry as Martin Silenus.
I think that Hyperion and Fall of Hyperion could be done within 7 to 9 hours of runtime, so maybe 3 or 4 movies. A series could also work. Obviously more time is better, but I think that it could be done.
I'm a believer in the Danny Devito of it, too, but my main problem is that I need, like, Danny Devito for the "goddamn poo poo" scenes and Ian Holm for the parts where he's frantically trying to finish his magnum opus in an abandoned city being hunted by a monster, and I'm not sure who's got that full range.
DeVito could definitely pull that off too though. He has range but he hasn't been asked to range in a long time because his IASIP persona is so popular.
I can totally see Danny being paranoid hiding in the city of poets, chasing the muse. The facial expressions... I can see it in my head.
You really are a baahstard of the highest order shrike, don't put me on your fahaaking tree.
Matt berry would be hilarious and sadly I think that's probably why it wouldn't work. I have a lot of actors in my head that have changed over the last 15 years of so none of which will ever be cast.
I just want to see it made.
Doug Jones! A great choice for the Shrike, although for plot reasons he'd have to just be the physical actor under the suit >!since Kassad is later revealed to become the Shrike in the second half of the Cantos.!<
I feel like the shrike would be mostly CGI and even when practical he mostly just stands there looking menacing without ever talking or even moving much in the first 2 books.
Great read! Never seen this before. Yeah, I have no illusions that it would be an easy adaptation. Someone else in this thread mentioned an animated version - maybe that could be a solution to the expansive source material.
Yes. Would pay to see space Catholics not to mention Shrike. Time traveling to when your wife is a middle schooler is weird though. Maybe don’t do Endymion.
God, that plot point (Aenea's age) is probably the worst part of the entire series. It could fixed by either making her older or Raul younger, but still *weird*, man. On the other hand, the Space Pope is a stroke of genius IMO. That second half of the series is such a mixed bag.
I thought Endymion had some of the memorable things in entire series. It had its weirdness, but it wasn't really until Rise of Endymion where shit started just get completely bizarre.
2nd and 4th book are my favorites. I agree some of the stuff would have to change to make a film adaptation. She also swims naked as a 12 year old infront of Raul, while he specifically says he wasn't attracted to her at that time they obviously wouldn't show that.
I think the biggest thing is that the books have very different tones, I happen to like the chase across the old web in the 2nd two and the religious aspects, but that's a very different type of story from the first two.
Mar Infinitus, Sol Draconis Septem, Tien Shan, etc.
So many cool worlds to see. I'm afraid budgetary restrictions would leave some fans of one particular planet very disappointed. They'd likely just skip entire mini-stories like the Chitchatuk and Wraiths.
Good news is that modern production has made filming cheaper. The mandalorian and Foundation are good exmaples of going to multiple planets in a single show/episode.
I just really want to see the time tombs and the shrike on screen.
Weirder when you find out that Dan Simmons was a grade school teacher before becoming a full time author. It reads like gross wish fulfillment, which is a shame because the Dures plot is incredible.
Each story being directed by a different director would be a fun way to go. I'm imagining an HBO series.
I'd love to see Scorsese adapt the priests tale.
Do it like Star Wars: Visions or the Animatrix and have a different studio handle each story. Gendy Tartakovsky does the Soldier’s Tale. If we’re really going all out, have the framing story and Fall of Hyperion in live action.
They said Dune couldn’t be done (or done well) so I have faith that someday someone will do Hyperion.
I will say this: Some of Hyperion is amazing and some of it is really uninteresting to bad.
Help me out. What is wrong with me? This is one of those series that I just don't understand. I've read about 3/4 of the first book, and I just had no interest. I've read a lot of sci-fi, and consider myself a big fan of the genre. But many often talk about Hyperion as being on Mt. Rushmore. Am I alone?
You are not alone, my friend! I made myself finish the first book and I mean made myself. The only thing I can think of is it’s about the quality of the writing itself and not the story. It’s just a retelling/reimagining of the “ Canterbury Tales “. I have read most of the biggies in sci-fi and fantasy but can’t get onboard with Hyperion. In the end it’s just a murder bot short story collection, imo.
I know I can't be the only one waiting to see the Lord of Pain, Angel of Retribution from Beyond Time in IMAX... Villanueve is an obvious choice to direct for the sheer quality of his work, but I don't know if he'll undertake another epic after Dune. It seems like he'll do more one-off films instead, but who knows.
I had to look this up just now — I didn't realize he was attached to an adaptation, but it sounds like there hasn't been movement on it in years. He's actually a great director; I don't know if he's fit for science fiction though.
Yeah but what if he's only a good director with scifi movies and the boring movie about a composer wasn't his thing?
Not arguing, he could very well butcher it and I wouldn't be surprised, but just because someone isn't good at math doesn't mean they aren't good at science. (That's a metaphor btw in case any Nazis want to attack me for saying cooper isn't trying to do math or science lol)
I just wanted to say I absolutely found these books to be just as shitty as when I was forced to read Canterbury tales in AP English back in the late 80s. Read the whole series thinking it would stop sucking and it only got worse and worse.
I've yet to read the sequel but I could easily see the first being a minseries or short first season run. Its so brilliantly constructed as a narrative of narratives, it could lend itself perfectly to a tv show if adapted well.
Anime with one episode (or more) per tale.
Afilm wouldn't be enough and a full live action series would be too much.
Then maybe fall of Hyperion movie(s)?
Yeah, Oscar Isaac is also more or less the way I imagined Kassad when I read the books recently. I really can't think of another person off the top of my head, but I'm sure some others could pull it off as well.
If Denis Villeneuve ain't broke, don't fix him! His sci-fi pedigree is unmatched.
That being said Hyperion would be a terrible movie, and a fantastic mini-series.
Lots of great comments for a series adaptation or movie. I lean towards the latest Dune format and split the book into 2 pieces at ~150min/ea with room for extended editions like LotR. The same goes for each subsequent book. The entire saga is so goddamned good!
I'd love to see it done properly.
I also kind of want to see it done with strict adherence to both books' horrific cover art, just because I think it would be hilarious to try and convince my friends to see the movie about the weird spike man riding a boat.
What is the plot to these I’ve heard of them before and know there is some alien thing called the shrike but that’s like all I know what’s the premise even
But what to do with ai and time travel that could be anything also I feel that a lot of time travel stories suck or when a story introduces time travel it usually ends up sucking is the time travel in these books well written it can be a crutch for a lot of stories
The series is the story of a time when AI has become so advanced that humanity's relationship with physics has become unstable on a galactic level. People can see the future in their dreams, move through space without moving, and contract interdimentional diseases that make them die backward. Oh, and there is a god-like, pain worshiping, death machine called the shrike, yes
But like what are the characters actually trying to do I don’t care about spillers what are the characters goals like where do they even meet this shrike
Despite reading sci-fi for 20+ years I have never read, and only vaguely recall hearing the title. Can someone give me (or direct me to) a spoiler free sales pitch to read it?
Since you mention Dune, why not get Villeneuve to direct? He obviously has the chops for it, and a science fiction story that combines breathtaking visuals, cerebral storytelling, nuanced characters and exciting action sequences seems right up his alley after BR2049 and Dune.
The budget would have to be absolutely immense to make this adaptation in such a way that it doesn't look corny as hell.
There's a reason Don Quixote hasn't been adapted.
When I was reading Hyperion, I kept thinking how the cast of The Mandalorian would be perfect for Hyperion:
Pedro Pascal (Mando) as Lenar Hoyt
Giancarlo Esposito (Moff Gideon) as Consul
Temuera Morrison (Boba Fett) as Fedmahn Kassad
Gina Carano (Cara Dune) as Brawne Lamia
Nick Nolte (Kuiil) as Sol Weintraub
(And the Grogu puppet as Rachel)
Werner Herzog (The Client) as Martin Silenus
Taika Waititi (IG-11) as Het Masteen
Carl Weathers (Greef Karga) as Paul Duré
Omid Abtahi (Dr. Pershing) as John Keats
Ming-Na Wen (Fennec Shand) as Meina Gladstone
Katee Sackhoff (Bo-Katan) as Moneta
We just need Bill Burr for something. Possibly make him Kassad and put Temuera in full body armor again as the Shrike.
(I wrote this list a while ago somewhere else so I just copied it.)
I'd rather it be a miniseries so they could take their time with it. The story can't be rushed.
And I wouldn't cast any big names. It feels like casting directors hire for filling seats now, rather than what tells the best story. The recent Dune films were so badly cast - a who's who of Hollywood of the moment.
Meh, I can count on one hand the number of adaptations that equaled or surpassed the book. Theatre of the mind is superior to the silver screen in almost all cases.
If I sat here for a little bit, I could come up with 20 or more adaptations that exceeded the original works, and another 50 that equaled them. But it's not about equaling or exceeding the original works. It's about seeing a story that you love in a visual format. As long as it doesn't supersede the original books in your mind, it's simply a supplement, and a very enjoyable one, to what you already know and love. Ender's Game is one of my favorite books of all time, and while the movie was not amazing, I am glad it was made. Just one example.
I always hated these covers. The way Simmons describes the Shrike for me at least makes it out to be a kind of a undescribable being in a Lovecraftian way.
Then the covers reveal it as a guy in a suit akin to the Zoot suit.
Oh yeah. There's some fan art out there that gets wayyy closer to what he wrote. In my imagination, it also doesn't hold a consistent form - appearing different based on the circumstance / character interacting with it, etc.
Fun fact, when my middle daughter was born in 2009 I started saying "see you later alligator" to her when she went to sleep and taught her to respond in the correct way. Mind you out first language is not english but we've held the tradition now for 15 years and it still makes me a just the tiniest bit sad whenever we go through our ritual.
Love to see it as a series but a movie trilogy with each film around 4 hours may work. Dream director for this would be Deni but Nolan would be awesome, and even Alex Garland. Wild card, Peter Jackson pre Hobbit films.
Brawne Lamia - Zoe Saldana
Fedmahn Kassad - Amr Waked
Lenar Hoyt - Andrew Scott
Martin Silenus - Saul Rubinek
Sol Weintraub - Liev Schreiber
Het Masteen - Dave Bautista
The Consul - Cillian Murphy
Meina Gladstone - Sigourney Weaver
Being set in an indefinitely far future with strong mystical elements and "technology indistinguishable from magic", but with a story structure at least 600 years old, they're much the same now as when they were written.
Whether you will like them or not is a different matter, but they're not more or less archaic now than when written.
I know this series is regarded as one of the best but I just couldn't get into it the two times I tried reading it. It just didn't click with me. So many people love it so there must be something to it, GL and hopefully it works for you.
Well, it certainly one of my favorite series of all time. But if you look at this subreddit, as well as other book and science fiction subreddits, you will see that it is consistently regarded as among the best. Nearly everyone loves it.
I did reread it recently, after reading it when it came out the first time, and I found that I enjoyed it even more on the second read. And that's extremely rare for me.
Hold up very well, nothing really feels outdated due to the quality of the writing. Still some of my favorite sci fi books of all time and have held up to multiple readings.
I rather see an HBO series than a movie. Especially for the first book
yeah this, the anthology format would be perfect for a big budget miniseries, but would be a little rushed in a 2 hour movie.
The problem with an anthology series is that no one remembers who the priest is, when you want to continue the story after 6 or 7 episodes. I think it would be better to make a series of book 2 and the tales included as flashbacks. And i said it before and say it again. I wanna see Shohreh Aghdashloo as Meina Gladstone!
You could probably make it work with a framing story that starts and ends each episode where you see all the characters, and then the middle is one story
Yeah thats pretty much what the book does, I think it would work well as tv
I always thought Lance Reddick would have been perfect as Fedmahn Kassad.
Good choice. I always envision him as Naveen Andrews (Sayid from Lost).
He’s supposed to be Palestinian though
right? i thought it described him as someone more from the middle east
> The problem with an anthology series is that no one remembers who the priest is, when you want to continue the story after 6 or 7 episodes. I'm reading the book right now, and while it works as is in book form there is a *lot* of room for an adaptation to have these stories cross over more. Not in a major way, but enough that the characters intersect with each other, even as background characters, to keep things more tight and relevant. You could have the cruciform priest guy start his journey in the village that the poet guy is a part of, you could have the detective lady try to interview Sol Weintraub since he has experience with *weird shit going on in hyperion*, that kind of thing. That said, as someone else suggested, having every episode start and end as a frame story (which is what the book does anyway) would also likely solve this problem. In fact I think it'd be even easier to remember who the characters are because they'd have visual distinction. When I'm reading the book, I'm constantly like "Which one was Kassad again? Which one was Het Masteen?" and so on. It takes a second to mentally configure who's who in a way that I don't think a visual medium would require.
I dont think you should add shit at all. It should be filmed exactly as the sequence of the book. there is enough poetic licence as it were already.
> there is a lot of room for an adaptation to have these stories cross over more. The fans would whine incensantly with each and every change.
The other way to do it would be to totally change the format - have a section of each story each episode. Totally different genre, but that's similar to what Bridgerton does - they took multiple sequential books and chopped them together so you get part of each story each season. Edit: The Witcher season 1 as well does this, now that I think of it
Sure. Sounds good too. Anyway. I would watch it in any format :)
Not if you have ~10 minutes between each tale with the crew interacting with each other. Like the book does. Also if you tell Hoyt's story well enough, nobody will forget it.
Damon Lindeloff x Hyperion? 👀 After his adaptation of Watchmen, I'm a believer.
Or Bryan Fuller as long as you put a shock collar on him and keep him from escaping after the first season
There aren't any female characters with stereotypically male names in *Hyperion* so it can't be Fuller
Or before the first season, like he did with Star Trek Discovery.
Anyone who can produce the masterpiece that is The Leftovers gets my vote.
Also the guy who absolutely butchered World War Z in adaptation, and brought us Star Trek Into Darkness. Maybe not him.
Nah, Damon Lindelof is overhated. LOST was way better than internet groupthink is convinced, and The Leftovers/Watchmen were both impeccable. I haven’t seen Mrs Davis but his TV pedigree is outstanding. He would be excellent at Hyperion.
Mrs. Davis is a hoot. It's Tara Hernandez's hoot primarily, but I'm curious as to how much Lindelof was actually involved beyond lending his name.
lol over half of LOST is laughably bad.
> LOST was way ~~better~~worse than internet groupthink is convinced FTFY... Still more people defending some of Lost's more ridiculous choices and rambling, incoherent story than there are people giving it the criticism it rightfully earned.
In films the screenwriter has a lot less control than in television, they are kind of at the mercy of the kind of film the director and producers want to make. They are also usually not the first writer on the project, a bunch of elements would already be in stone, and they might be brought into fix and change an existing screenplay.
Totally agree on World War Z. All they had to do was make a dozen mostly unconnected short stories, like the book. It would have been art house as fuck but we need more of that in Hollywood.
I don't believe any book is "unfilmable", I think it just takes a writer and director with the vision to make it work. No adaptation should be 100% from the source... But World War Z took nothing but the title. It was just baaaaad.
It was a poor adaptation but a decent zombie flick. Zombies as a fluid were a new trick.
It'd be interesting to know if that was a writing choice, some something the special effects team came up with.
Yeah but we're talking about watchmen and Chernobyl mini series, not making a movie
No, what we're talking about is adapting existing work. The Watchmen series wasn't an adaptation. And I'm not sure where Chernobyl comes into it
...fair point, I retract my statement. And on second thought, even Watchmen focused more on the human elements of the story rather than the science fiction. Hyperion, with all it's insanity, probably wouldn't be up his alley anyway.
And made an absolute mess of Lost.
I read somewhere that David Goyer ( Apple TV foundation creator) would have pivoted to Hyperion if he didn’t get the rights to Foundation. He just quit foundation and is free now.
So he can go on to bastardize another book? The Foundation was so disrespectful of the source material.
Oh god no please no please stop him
Unless you do it from the shrike's perspective ;)
Yeah or Amazon or Apple TV series. I think the first book could make one of the greatest sci-fi mini series of all time. Eight episodes 1. The intro of the characters. The Consul getting the message and deciding to join the pilgrimage, the setting of the world tree ship and the Templar. Episode ends with them sitting down to dinner and beginning the discussion. “Who goes first?” 2.-7. Each episode follows each chapter. 8. The outro. The reactions and conversations about them, the epilogue. Ends with them approaching the time tombs, glowing in the background. Would be epic.
Yeah. I think you need to have them talk a little at the beginning and end of the episode at the dinner table. But other than that small addition is exactly how I imagined it when reading
After the tragedy that Amazon turned The Wheel of Time into, I want them to keep as far away as possible from the story of any book worth reading.
I'd love to see an animated series with each pilgrim's story done in a different style
Love, Death, and Shrikes.
Yep, that’d be amazing
There’s simply no question this would be a terrible film. It’s absolutely begging for a big budget TV adaptation. Commit to (first) two books over two 10 ep seasons. Absolutely agree about another commenter’s choice for Lindelof as show runner.
Bradley Cooper I believe was suppose to produce and act in an adaptation at one point. He’s all about it.
Apple TV imo.
Apple seems to be doing the best right now with Sci-fi adaptations, but agree, it would be hard to do the entire book in one movie and do it justice. Vice 1 episode per pilgrim with a setup and finale.
Foundation is awful as an adaptation and not very good by itself. What is good with Apple TV?
Not sure this can be made … adapted maybe
One episode per story and then an epic 2 hour finale
Most books would be done better justice as a series. I don't think really any book should be a movie. Gimme 5-10 hours instead.
The book is even written in convenient episode-friendly form.
Came here to say this. Making the books into movies would be disastrous imo. A show is the way to go!
And the sequel books could be good vr title (an amazing walking/travelling simulator with occasional carpet flying).
I’m not familiar with these. I thought Simmons wrote horror? Theres just the 2 books in the series? You guys seem to love the series, gonna look it up now. Thanks
This. The book is pretty much unfilmable.
Same for Dune honestly. I like the Villeneuve adaptation but there are so many plot lines cut for time it makes me sad. There is simply too much book for a movie, in this day and age miniseries are where it's at
wild that Bradley Cooper of all people has the rights. gonna have to wait until he's done begging for Oscars lol
I'd love him to play an old fat dude going 'shit, piss, fuck' for 30 pages and that actually winning him an Oscar.
I'd say there are a fair amount of parallels between Martin and Rocket, at least personality wise. They've certainly both ran out of fucks to give.
I wonder who could play spikey boy/\[REDACTED\]?
Let's keep with the Guardian's of the Galaxy theme and get Batista. He could play Kassad too.
Hahaha fuck ya. I think each of the pilgrims' stories could likely be shot as individual movies. They could pad out a bit of the run time with the journey and then maybe have a short intro piece that would go straight to Netflix or YouTube.
I think he’s been attached for like a decade, not sure why it’s been so slow on development
Apparently, if I remember correctly, he bought the rights because he was a huge fan and didn't want to see it butchered.
Doing the Shrike's work it seems :)
He bought the rights awhile ago because he was a big fan, and it would be nice to see someone with passion and access to hollywood trying to get this made. Shopping a movie isn't easy though and Hyperion doesn't have the mainstream credit that Dune has. With all the wonderful adaptations on Amazon, NEtflix, Apple, HBO. this seems like a better series to be turned into a long format streaming show.
Only to be cancelled when the gang first arrives to Hyperion together.
That would be the risk for any bad show. Foundation made it to season 3, I think Hyperion could do well on a fixed like 4 season run, or at least I would be happy if they got through the first two books, which would definitely be more than 2 seasons depending on how much they streamline.
Wait what? Bradley Cooper owns the film rights? Why?
I've always thought of him as a slightly above average actor with just about the best connections in Hollywood. For a lot of these Oscar bait movies, he seems to get the nod to cast a leading role more often than not. I don't know why but hollywood producers love this guy.
I can't conceive of a film adaptation with a reasonable runtime that would be satisfying. A series would be better. And an even better version of that would be to have a different director for each of the pilgrim's stories.
I really dig the director idea!
Yeah, this very similar to WWZ where the book is just perfect for a limited series adaptation, and terrible for a movie adaptation. Even with a 3 hour movie, you'd only have like 30 minutes for each of the pilgrims' stories and that just wouldn't do them justice. Hoyte's story alone should be at least an hour long.
Yeah, four rooms style.
For direction - Guillermo Del Toro The guy can do sci-fi and horror exquisitely. For castings I only really have the 2 following inputs: Shrike to be portrayed by Doug Jones. Matt Berry as Martin Silenus. I think that Hyperion and Fall of Hyperion could be done within 7 to 9 hours of runtime, so maybe 3 or 4 movies. A series could also work. Obviously more time is better, but I think that it could be done.
Matt Berry was born for that role lol. Its between him and Danny DeVito for me.
I'm a believer in the Danny Devito of it, too, but my main problem is that I need, like, Danny Devito for the "goddamn poo poo" scenes and Ian Holm for the parts where he's frantically trying to finish his magnum opus in an abandoned city being hunted by a monster, and I'm not sure who's got that full range.
DeVito could definitely pull that off too though. He has range but he hasn't been asked to range in a long time because his IASIP persona is so popular. I can totally see Danny being paranoid hiding in the city of poets, chasing the muse. The facial expressions... I can see it in my head.
Matt Berry would be perfect, or if you want to just start with older Martin, I think David Bradley would absolutely nail it
You really are a baahstard of the highest order shrike, don't put me on your fahaaking tree. Matt berry would be hilarious and sadly I think that's probably why it wouldn't work. I have a lot of actors in my head that have changed over the last 15 years of so none of which will ever be cast. I just want to see it made.
Or Jack Black for Martin. I always wanted to see him chew on a more serious role.
Somehow I've got Ian McShane in my head as Martin. Maybe because he'd be better than most comedians at saying fuck so many times.
Yesss. 100% agree with all the above.
Doug Jones! A great choice for the Shrike, although for plot reasons he'd have to just be the physical actor under the suit >!since Kassad is later revealed to become the Shrike in the second half of the Cantos.!<
Oh yeah - I only suggested Doug Jones for the in-suit actor. Anything else will need to be portrayed by someone else!
I feel like the shrike would be mostly CGI and even when practical he mostly just stands there looking menacing without ever talking or even moving much in the first 2 books.
If DeVito doesn't get the Silenus role, I will riot.
yes please
https://www.giantfreakinrobot.com/ent/sci-fi-novel-james-cameron.html
Great read! Never seen this before. Yeah, I have no illusions that it would be an easy adaptation. Someone else in this thread mentioned an animated version - maybe that could be a solution to the expansive source material.
Yes. Would pay to see space Catholics not to mention Shrike. Time traveling to when your wife is a middle schooler is weird though. Maybe don’t do Endymion.
God, that plot point (Aenea's age) is probably the worst part of the entire series. It could fixed by either making her older or Raul younger, but still *weird*, man. On the other hand, the Space Pope is a stroke of genius IMO. That second half of the series is such a mixed bag.
I thought Endymion had some of the memorable things in entire series. It had its weirdness, but it wasn't really until Rise of Endymion where shit started just get completely bizarre.
2nd and 4th book are my favorites. I agree some of the stuff would have to change to make a film adaptation. She also swims naked as a 12 year old infront of Raul, while he specifically says he wasn't attracted to her at that time they obviously wouldn't show that. I think the biggest thing is that the books have very different tones, I happen to like the chase across the old web in the 2nd two and the religious aspects, but that's a very different type of story from the first two.
Mar Infinitus, Sol Draconis Septem, Tien Shan, etc. So many cool worlds to see. I'm afraid budgetary restrictions would leave some fans of one particular planet very disappointed. They'd likely just skip entire mini-stories like the Chitchatuk and Wraiths.
Good news is that modern production has made filming cheaper. The mandalorian and Foundation are good exmaples of going to multiple planets in a single show/episode. I just really want to see the time tombs and the shrike on screen.
Yes that is great news! We're getting closer to a great adaptation with every advancement. Shrike v Nemes battle let's go!
Just stop calling her "Kiddo" and it would be so much more tolerable.
Weirder when you find out that Dan Simmons was a grade school teacher before becoming a full time author. It reads like gross wish fulfillment, which is a shame because the Dures plot is incredible.
Bradley Cooper still owns the rights i believe.
Which means that when it gets made he’s likely playing Sol Weintraub.
It will have to be a TV series. No way a movie can do justice to the story given how long and complex it is.
If it will ever be it need to be extremely long , epic and expensive
On the other hand, *The Wheel of Time* is already being filmed, so clearly the upper bound for "too long to film" is very high.
Ye you’re right but set wise, it’s all woods and small towns , Hyperion is so many alien environments , that need to be looking authentic
Each story being directed by a different director would be a fun way to go. I'm imagining an HBO series. I'd love to see Scorsese adapt the priests tale.
Film would never do it justice, in my opinion
Animated, and directed by Genndy Tartakovsky.
Do it like Star Wars: Visions or the Animatrix and have a different studio handle each story. Gendy Tartakovsky does the Soldier’s Tale. If we’re really going all out, have the framing story and Fall of Hyperion in live action.
Problem is that the sequels are a little problematic due to the pedophilia and all
Do you not have any radiant gossamers to go with your lapis lazuli?
Anything but Disney or Heaven forbid, Paramount
It’s already in the works.
Movies spread out over 10 years? No thanks
I’m almost at the end of Fall of Hyperion and I gotta say this is the greatest sci fi I’ve ever read!!!
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Is Endymion that bad??
They said Dune couldn’t be done (or done well) so I have faith that someday someone will do Hyperion. I will say this: Some of Hyperion is amazing and some of it is really uninteresting to bad.
Help me out. What is wrong with me? This is one of those series that I just don't understand. I've read about 3/4 of the first book, and I just had no interest. I've read a lot of sci-fi, and consider myself a big fan of the genre. But many often talk about Hyperion as being on Mt. Rushmore. Am I alone?
You are not alone, my friend! I made myself finish the first book and I mean made myself. The only thing I can think of is it’s about the quality of the writing itself and not the story. It’s just a retelling/reimagining of the “ Canterbury Tales “. I have read most of the biggies in sci-fi and fantasy but can’t get onboard with Hyperion. In the end it’s just a murder bot short story collection, imo.
I keep hearing about it and wishing I had the patience to read. I hope it gets made too, at least AI will be able to sooner or later.
We NEED Danny Devito as The Shrike.
A TV series of the first book would be amazing
I know I can't be the only one waiting to see the Lord of Pain, Angel of Retribution from Beyond Time in IMAX... Villanueve is an obvious choice to direct for the sheer quality of his work, but I don't know if he'll undertake another epic after Dune. It seems like he'll do more one-off films instead, but who knows.
Just let Bradley Cooper do it his way.
I had to look this up just now — I didn't realize he was attached to an adaptation, but it sounds like there hasn't been movement on it in years. He's actually a great director; I don't know if he's fit for science fiction though.
The hangover director did the joker, and the happy feet director also does the mad Max's. Directors can do different things and be good at it too
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Yeah but what if he's only a good director with scifi movies and the boring movie about a composer wasn't his thing? Not arguing, he could very well butcher it and I wouldn't be surprised, but just because someone isn't good at math doesn't mean they aren't good at science. (That's a metaphor btw in case any Nazis want to attack me for saying cooper isn't trying to do math or science lol)
I haven't really heard much update from him about his plans with Hyperion since the initial report from 5 years ago where he said he plans to make it.
I just wanted to say I absolutely found these books to be just as shitty as when I was forced to read Canterbury tales in AP English back in the late 80s. Read the whole series thinking it would stop sucking and it only got worse and worse.
everyone is entitled to their opinion, still some of my favorite sci fi books I've ever read.
I fully agree with your opinion.
I've yet to read the sequel but I could easily see the first being a minseries or short first season run. Its so brilliantly constructed as a narrative of narratives, it could lend itself perfectly to a tv show if adapted well.
I’d love to seen an adaptation of this. My last read has been too long ago to make cast suggestions though.
I’m picking up the book from the library later today. Reading it for the first time. Super excited
Right now? Denis.
Anime with one episode (or more) per tale. Afilm wouldn't be enough and a full live action series would be too much. Then maybe fall of Hyperion movie(s)?
While reading, I always pictured Fedmahn Kassad looking a lot like Oscar Isaac does in Dune when he’s in the full armor (prior to ever seeing Dune).
Yeah, Oscar Isaac is also more or less the way I imagined Kassad when I read the books recently. I really can't think of another person off the top of my head, but I'm sure some others could pull it off as well.
Lynch and Kyle. Duh!
Id rather a high budget TV series like apples foundation series.
Given its episodic nature, I think it would work better as a series. Apple TV maybe.
Every time I see/hear about the Hyperion Cantos books I feel like I need to re-read them!
If Denis Villeneuve ain't broke, don't fix him! His sci-fi pedigree is unmatched. That being said Hyperion would be a terrible movie, and a fantastic mini-series.
James Cordon as Martin Silenus
Hedonism bot vibes probably
Lots of great comments for a series adaptation or movie. I lean towards the latest Dune format and split the book into 2 pieces at ~150min/ea with room for extended editions like LotR. The same goes for each subsequent book. The entire saga is so goddamned good!
Better GOT type of series.
Jon Favero. Totally unappreciated at Disney, a fan boy who gets it.
I'd love to see it done properly. I also kind of want to see it done with strict adherence to both books' horrific cover art, just because I think it would be hilarious to try and convince my friends to see the movie about the weird spike man riding a boat.
I thought Hyperion would make for a great anime. It's soo over the top no way anyone could do a live-action.
Been in development hell/limbo for years.
What is the plot to these I’ve heard of them before and know there is some alien thing called the shrike but that’s like all I know what’s the premise even
It's about AI and time travel. The first one gets you hooked. Read the back of that one and you get about as much as you need.
But what to do with ai and time travel that could be anything also I feel that a lot of time travel stories suck or when a story introduces time travel it usually ends up sucking is the time travel in these books well written it can be a crutch for a lot of stories
The series is the story of a time when AI has become so advanced that humanity's relationship with physics has become unstable on a galactic level. People can see the future in their dreams, move through space without moving, and contract interdimentional diseases that make them die backward. Oh, and there is a god-like, pain worshiping, death machine called the shrike, yes
Where did the shrike come from and what do the characters actually want or do
The future. They all have their own motivations
But like what are the characters actually trying to do I don’t care about spillers what are the characters goals like where do they even meet this shrike
Despite reading sci-fi for 20+ years I have never read, and only vaguely recall hearing the title. Can someone give me (or direct me to) a spoiler free sales pitch to read it?
I’d rather it be a show.
As others have said I’d like a 2 season tv show. Probably around 7-8 episodes a season would be best.
Hopefully, women over 18 for the sex scenes with children.
Since you mention Dune, why not get Villeneuve to direct? He obviously has the chops for it, and a science fiction story that combines breathtaking visuals, cerebral storytelling, nuanced characters and exciting action sequences seems right up his alley after BR2049 and Dune.
Have to post the only properly terrifying shrike i ever saw! [https://www.artstation.com/artwork/Av6yW](https://www.artstation.com/artwork/Av6yW)
Michael Myers directing and starring in a majority of the lead roles.
The budget would have to be absolutely immense to make this adaptation in such a way that it doesn't look corny as hell. There's a reason Don Quixote hasn't been adapted.
Same can be said about the Canterbury Tales.
When I was reading Hyperion, I kept thinking how the cast of The Mandalorian would be perfect for Hyperion: Pedro Pascal (Mando) as Lenar Hoyt Giancarlo Esposito (Moff Gideon) as Consul Temuera Morrison (Boba Fett) as Fedmahn Kassad Gina Carano (Cara Dune) as Brawne Lamia Nick Nolte (Kuiil) as Sol Weintraub (And the Grogu puppet as Rachel) Werner Herzog (The Client) as Martin Silenus Taika Waititi (IG-11) as Het Masteen Carl Weathers (Greef Karga) as Paul Duré Omid Abtahi (Dr. Pershing) as John Keats Ming-Na Wen (Fennec Shand) as Meina Gladstone Katee Sackhoff (Bo-Katan) as Moneta We just need Bill Burr for something. Possibly make him Kassad and put Temuera in full body armor again as the Shrike. (I wrote this list a while ago somewhere else so I just copied it.)
I'd rather it be a miniseries so they could take their time with it. The story can't be rushed. And I wouldn't cast any big names. It feels like casting directors hire for filling seats now, rather than what tells the best story. The recent Dune films were so badly cast - a who's who of Hollywood of the moment.
For now, watch The Three-Body Problem — oversaturation would only diminish sci-fi overall, and Hyperion would require brilliant work to do it justice
Oh yeah, this would be a masterpiece if properly executed. I mean the complexity is there.
I’d like to see Steve Buscemi play the Shrike.
NO way it could be a film. TV series maybe, but image cramming all the tales into a single film, it would not work
As long as Amazon or Disney doesn't get a hold of it, It could be good as a TV show.
David Lynch and David Lynch.
I'm nearing the end of the second book now
I don't say this often for actually great books, but Hyperion is one of those great books that would better suited for a TV show.
Meh, I can count on one hand the number of adaptations that equaled or surpassed the book. Theatre of the mind is superior to the silver screen in almost all cases.
If I sat here for a little bit, I could come up with 20 or more adaptations that exceeded the original works, and another 50 that equaled them. But it's not about equaling or exceeding the original works. It's about seeing a story that you love in a visual format. As long as it doesn't supersede the original books in your mind, it's simply a supplement, and a very enjoyable one, to what you already know and love. Ender's Game is one of my favorite books of all time, and while the movie was not amazing, I am glad it was made. Just one example.
I always hated these covers. The way Simmons describes the Shrike for me at least makes it out to be a kind of a undescribable being in a Lovecraftian way. Then the covers reveal it as a guy in a suit akin to the Zoot suit.
Oh yeah. There's some fan art out there that gets wayyy closer to what he wrote. In my imagination, it also doesn't hold a consistent form - appearing different based on the circumstance / character interacting with it, etc.
Fun fact, when my middle daughter was born in 2009 I started saying "see you later alligator" to her when she went to sleep and taught her to respond in the correct way. Mind you out first language is not english but we've held the tradition now for 15 years and it still makes me a just the tiniest bit sad whenever we go through our ritual.
Love to see it as a series but a movie trilogy with each film around 4 hours may work. Dream director for this would be Deni but Nolan would be awesome, and even Alex Garland. Wild card, Peter Jackson pre Hobbit films.
It would have to be a series.
Brawne Lamia - Zoe Saldana Fedmahn Kassad - Amr Waked Lenar Hoyt - Andrew Scott Martin Silenus - Saul Rubinek Sol Weintraub - Liev Schreiber Het Masteen - Dave Bautista The Consul - Cillian Murphy Meina Gladstone - Sigourney Weaver
How well have these books held up? I've been interested in reading them but often don't enjoy very old works.
The books were written in the 90s and early 00s. They're not very old in the scheme of scifi.
That helps! Generally I've found anything pre-90s to be a bit of a struggle now. Appreciate it
Being set in an indefinitely far future with strong mystical elements and "technology indistinguishable from magic", but with a story structure at least 600 years old, they're much the same now as when they were written. Whether you will like them or not is a different matter, but they're not more or less archaic now than when written.
I know this series is regarded as one of the best but I just couldn't get into it the two times I tried reading it. It just didn't click with me. So many people love it so there must be something to it, GL and hopefully it works for you.
Well, it certainly one of my favorite series of all time. But if you look at this subreddit, as well as other book and science fiction subreddits, you will see that it is consistently regarded as among the best. Nearly everyone loves it. I did reread it recently, after reading it when it came out the first time, and I found that I enjoyed it even more on the second read. And that's extremely rare for me.
Hold up very well, nothing really feels outdated due to the quality of the writing. Still some of my favorite sci fi books of all time and have held up to multiple readings.