Upgrade TV series: Jason Blum says they’re working on the scripts

Released in less than 1500 theatres back in 2018, writer/director Leigh Whannell’s sci-fi action thriller Upgrade (watch it HERE) was not seen by many people; its domestic box office haul was under $12 million, and the international release didn’t even add $5 million. But a lot of people who have seen Upgrade over the years have loved it, so it wasn’t too surprising when Blumhouse Television and UCP, a division of NBCUniversal Content Studios, announced last year that they were working on an Upgrade television series. A lot of time has passed since that announcement, so fans are probably starting to wonder what’s going on with the Upgrade TV show – and thankfully, Blumhouse founder Jason Blum gave an update while speaking to Collider.

Blum said,

Upgrade should have been a wide release. I was pissed about that. We’re working on a TV show. So working on the scripts. The first round didn’t come out, I didn’t get the response I wanted to get. I don’t want to be in development. I want (a series) order. We’re working on the scripts again, so that we can get an order. And I don’t want to develop it.”

Upgrade had the following synopsis:

A brutal mugging leaves Grey Trace paralyzed in the hospital and his beloved wife dead. A billionaire inventor soon offers Trace a cure — an artificial intelligence implant called STEM that will enhance his body. Now able to walk, Grey finds that he also has superhuman strength and agility — skills he uses to seek revenge against the thugs who destroyed his life.

Whannell co-created the TV series and will executive produce it with showrunner Tim Walsh. Krystal Ziv Houghton and James Roland were working alongside them to craft the first season. The show

picks up a few years after the events of the film and broadens the universe with an evolved version of STEM and a new host – imagining a world in which the government repurposes STEM to help curb criminal activity.

Whannell is expected to direct at least the first episode.

I seem to be one of the few people who has watched Upgrade, or tried to watch it, and not been blown away by it. I’ve given it a couple chances and haven’t been able to get into it… but I keep seeing hype for it, so I’ll give it another chance one of these days.