NBC to Bring Frankenstein To Life On Television


We can’t help but wonder if it’s because of all of the buzz that FX’s American Horror Story has received since its pilot preview last week, but the word is that NBC has ordered a script of Frankenstein. Universal owns the intellectual property rights to the story.

It will be written by Russel Friend and Garrett Lerner, executive producers for House. Other writing credits for the two include John Doe, Roswell and Smallville, as well as LAX and Boston Public. OK, there’s some promise of intelligent writing, which is excellent news.

THR, who broke the story, say the script is “described as a modern-day take on the legend of Frankenstein”. Ah, but which version? The original novel, or the Boris Karloff movie? Not surprisingly, the movie took all the scary bits and left all the beauty and lyricism and most of the plot development on the page.

Will this be about a scientist’s hubris? A cautionary tale of what science can do if left unchecked? Or maybe what makes a person “human”? Will there be more than one “creature”? Will it or they look like creatures, or will it take the BSG approach and make them gorgeous? Or will it be your basic screaming monsterfest? Will they remember that “Frankenstein” is the name of the scientist, and not the monster? Will anybody be doing “Putting on the Ritz”?

We’ll keep you posted…


Erin Willard
Written by Erin Willard

Erin is the Editor In Chief and West Coast Correspondent for SciFiMafia.com