Legendary Entertainment has signed a first-look television deal with Eric Heisserer & Co., according to information learned exclusively by Variety.
Under the deal, Heisserer and Carmen Ruiz (who co-founded the production company Chronology) will develop and oversee IP-driven and related projects for Legendary. The first project to be developed under the deal will be a Pacific Rim origin series.
“Eric is a talented and prolific creator with a track record of critical and commercial success that speaks for itself,” said Jason Clodfelter, president, Legendary Television. “We’re thrilled to begin our partnership with Eric, Chronology and Carmen to bring new content to the epic, globally popular Pacific Rim universe. We’re confident their vision will deliver a compelling expansion to Legendary’s beloved series.”
News of the first-look TV deal comes less than three weeks after it was announced that Heisserer and Chronology had inked a first-look film deal with Sony Pictures.
Heisserer is an acclaimed film and television screenwriter. In 2017, he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for Arrival. His other feature screenwriting credits include the hit Netflix film Bird Box, as well as Lights Out, The Hours (which he also directed), Bloodshot, and the 2010 remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street. For television, he wrote the Netflix series Shadow and Bone, based on the Grishaverse YA novels.
He is signed with Art/Work Entertainment, CAA and Jackoway Austen Tyerman.
In the Pacific Rim series, an interdimensional rift opens on the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, and giant monsters invade this world and start attacking humanity. In response, humans begin to build giant combat robots called Jaegers. The first film in the series was released in 2013 and grossed more than $400 million worldwide. A sequel, Pacific Rim: Uprising, was released in 2018, and the animated series Pacific Rim: The Black aired two seasons on Netflix from 2021 to 2022.