At San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) 2024, The Direct was able to exclusively catch up with some of the creative team behind Arthur C. Clarke's Venus Prime TV series.
In July 2024, it was announced that Jonathan Frakes, best known for his role in Star Trek, will direct and produce the upcoming sci-fi series Arthur C. Clarke’s Venus Prime.
The six-episode series, set to begin production later this year in Canada, has also seen the addition of David Cormican (Tokyo Trial) and Dwayne Hill (Northern Rescue) to executive producers and showrunners.
Venus Prime Will Excite Fans
Volume Global will have a major influence on the series, Dwayne Hill explained at SDCC they're using "a 75 foot by 35 foot wall" to record the entire series and Jonathan Frakes is "excited to even push the boundaries more:"
"What's interesting is we're using a volume wall which is a 75 foot by 35 foot wall. So one of the things gets pre visualize everything like everything has been computer first. One of the things we're very lucky about is that we have Jonathan Frakes directing our entire first season. And he's so amazing, he does 'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' and 'Picard' and he's worked with these walls before, so it's a huge challenge. But because he's such an expert at it, if that could be used, he's excited to even push the boundaries more."
David Cormican discussed the daunting task of taking on this project based on Arthur C. Clarke's novels. He called it "a double edged sword" of both "excitement and sheer terror:"
"It's a double edged sword. It was excitement and sheer terror, because when we got handed this, you're like, 'Oh, wow, Arthur C. Clarke, okay. I'm stepping into the world of one of the big three of sci-fi."
As "one of the big three of sci-fi," Clarke is possibly best remembered for co-writing the groundbreaking 2001: A Space Odyssey screenplay, widely considered one of the most influential films in cinematic history.
Known as the "Prophet of the Space Age," Clarke's visionary ideas in both fiction and scientific exploration continue to inspire the genre and fuel humanity's fascination with space and technology.
Cormican further explained that before they "accepted" the offer to work on the series, they wanted to meet with Paul Preuss, a collaborater of Clarke's on the Venus Prime book series.
"Before we accepted, we actually asked to meet with Paul [Preuss], the co-author. And what we wanted to do with Paul was to sit down and walk him through our plans for the adaptation and to get his blessing. And not just his blessing, but also to know, is this something that we would also receive Arthur's blessing on, were he alive today?"
Preuss is serving as a consultant officially on the upcoming project at The Direct was lucky enough to speak with him as well at SDCC.
He confirmed that he has been "giving them a hard time" about certain aspects of the adaptation, but he echoes the sentiment "to make sure that Arthur Clarke's work stays" stays true to the author and is something "he would do or think about or even enjoy:"
"I have some specific things that I keep- I'm sort of giving them a hard time about it. 'He has got to be this,' or 'She has got to be that.' And that's the hard time that I'm doing for them. But on the other hand hey're being very, very good about that...The other thing that I'm somewhat hopeful for is to make sure that Arthur Clarke's work stays, not necessarily word for word what it is, but that it is his, it's something that he would do or think about or even enjoy."
There's no official release date or casting news currently for Arthur C. Clarke's Venus Prime TV series.
