The 1975 political thriller Three Days of the Condor is in the midst of getting a small screen remake.
As per The Hollywood Reporter, Skydance Productions, which is owned by David Ellison, is currently shopping around a TV series remake of the Sydney Pollack classic, written by Jason Smilovic and Todd Katzberg. Smilovic is no stranger to television thrillers, having been the creator of two short-lived series in the genre, Kidnapped and My Own Worst Enemy. This show will mark Katzberg’s first foray into writing.
Ellison is no stranger to remakes either. The brother of Annapurna Pictures’ Megan Ellison, David’s Skydance Productions has been involved in numerous big budget remakes over the years, from Mission: Impossible—Ghost Protocol and Star Trek Into Darkness, to the forthcoming Terminator: Genisys. Last summer also saw the production company dip its toes into television with the WGN nuclear bomb-building period piece Manhattan, with the studio’s comedy Grace and Frankie set to premiere on Netflix later this year.
The announcement comes in the midst of the first season of Syfy’s television remake of Terry Gilliam’s Twelve Monkeys, establishing that there is a precedent for the idea. Not much is currently known about the project outside of the crew behind it, and it’s unclear whether the series will adhere closely to the 1975 movie or the novel it was adapted from, James Grady’s Six Days of the Condor, or use the movie’s tone and superficial details to tell a completely different story, in much the same way that FX’s Fargo did last summer.
The other big question mark, of course, is who shall take on the lead role, and ostensibly fill Robert Redford’s shoes. A selection is likely to be largely dependent on what tone the show chooses to take, as previous genre entries such as Rubicon, Homeland, and The Americans have proven that there are several successful ways to tell such a story. With a network pickup seemingly likely, it remains to be seen how this show will stack up against its peers on the small screen.