Some of this summer's most anticipated science fiction features are coming from Warner Bros, including Man of Steel and Pacific Rim. So it should be no surprise the studio that's also bringing us the Wachowski siblings' next sci-fi epic Jupiter Ascending is on the prowl for more original sci-fi content. And they've found it in Hugo Award-winning author Will McIntosh's upcoming novel.
The Wrap reports Warner Bros bought the rights to McIntosh's Defenders in a pre-emptive pitch deal. Already Pain and Gain producer Donald De Line has been lined up to produce and Will Simmons, who made the 2012 Black List with his script Murder City, will adapt the soon-to-be released novel. At this time Warner Bros is not sharing plot details of the sci-fi thriller, much less a logline.
But we're not at a total loss as to what Defenders is about, as the novel is based on a short story McIntosh had published in Lightstpeed Magazine in 2011. (Read it here.) The short story (also called "Defenders") reveals a version of Earth that had been brutally attacked by alien creatures called Luyten. To defend themselves, mankind built cyborgs called Defenders from a "hodgepodge of neurological tissue and circuitry." But then humanity had a new concern. Here's a passage of these cyborgs in action:
"Then: Cheering, as two Defenders leaped from the roof of the school, impossibly tall on three knobby, bone-white legs, their built-in automatic weapons blasting the Luyten with bullets the size of cannonballs, their razor sharp exoskeletons slashing the Luyten wide open as they grappled, spilling their steaming green goo insides onto the playground. The cheering redoubled when the surviving Luyten fled, with the Defenders in pursuit."
Here's another that details the look of these Defenders:
"A Defender met them on the tarmac. They’d always reminded Lila of the massive statues on Easter Island, if those statues were stretched, and stood on three legs, and were made of what looked like enormous shards of broken glass. Their faces were chiseled and angular, set on a long, neckless cylinder."
So based on these descriptions, let's assume this will be a big-budget action flick. There's no mention of when Defenders hopes to hit theaters, but the novel will be available from Orbit next summer.
