Cary Fukunaga turning Joe Dante’s Explorers into TV pilot

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Okay, let's go ahead and get this out of the way right off the bat, Joe Dante's 1985 coming-of-age sci-fi film EXPLORERS starring Ethan Hawke and River Phoenix isn't a horror movie – by any means of the word. But that said, I know all of us here at AITH worship all things Dante so I'm going to go ahead and assume that all of you guys out there are just as excited as we are about today's news.

Deadline reports that Cary Fukunaga (TRUE DETECTIVE, Netflix's MANIAC) and David Lowery (THE OLD MAN AND THE GUN) are teaming to write a pilot script for a potential series based on EXPLORERS for Paramount Television. Fukunaga and Lowery will write the script and bible, and if the studio digs their pilot script, chances are one of them will helm the pilot episode. I'm thinking that if this script goes to pilot, it will be Lowery that ends up performing directing duties. After all, Fukunaga is all set to direct Daniel Craig in the upcoming 25th James Bond flick. But I guess we'll see what happens as this story develops.

The original film followed:

Young Ben Crandall (Ethan Hawke) spends his free time watching sci-fi films, playing video games and reading comic books. Surprisingly, his affinity for all things fantastical yields a real result — when he has a vivid dream about technology, his science-loving friend Wolfgang Muller (River Phoenix) manages to create a working spacecraft. Joined by their buddy Darren Woods (Jason Presson), the boys take off into outer space and encounter some very odd extraterrestrial life.

The original film was directed by Dante from a screenplay written by Eric Luke. Ethan Hawke, River Phoenix, Jason Presson, and Robert Picado starred in the film, which featured a killer score by Jerry Goldsmith. David Bombyk and Edward S. Feldman produced. This potential TV series will be executive produced by Fukunaga and Lowery along with Hayden Kiessling of Parliament of Owls, James Johnston and Toby Halbrooks of Sailer Bear Prods, and the original movie's screenwriter Erik Luke. 

Strange enough, the flick doesn't seem to be available on Blu-ray (unless I'm just missing it) but if you're a fan of the film, you can always head over to Amazon and snag a copy on DVD RIGHT HERE. After that, let us know how excited you are for EXPLORERS: THE TV SERIES below!