Expectations started soaring across the land, including here at SciFi Mafia, as soon as word came out that Stephen King and Steven Spielberg are collaborating on a dramatization of King’s 2009 novel Under the Dome, for cable network Showtime, to be produced by DreamWorks Television.

Deadline has reported that King and Spielberg will be partnering with Showtime for the series. No surprise that the novel is a supernatural thriller, and is set in Maine. The basis of the story is what happens when an invisible force field – a dome – suddenly surrounds the small town and cuts it off from the rest of the world.

Here are a tv spot and two trailers for the novel:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQJmy6k8NNY[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEUj_klOhd4&hd=1[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0rubfBEuR0&hd=1[/youtube]

DreamWorks Television has been on a sci-fi roll lately, with its Falling Skies picked up for a second season on TNT, Terra Nova premiering this fall on Fox and The River premiering midseason on ABC.

The search is reportedly underway for a writer for the project. We’ll keep you posted on any developments.