I think it’s safe to assume that most of us were pretty stunned last week when the news broke that the CW – a network responsible for bringing us “90210” and “The Vampire Diaries” – was apparently in the process of developing a television show based on BATTLE ROYALE. Obviously, such a decision would be inspired by the success of THE HUNGER GAMES, but there’s a severe difference in the two works, notably the level of insane brutality that BATTLE ROYALE carries with it. Just doesn’t seem possible to put such intense material on a network, especially one like the CW, without watering it down and wasting everything that makes it special.
Today, we have an update on this front, courtesy of Collider. The site spoke with CW president Mark Pedowitz and inquired what the status of the series is. Here’s what the man had to say:
“It’s amazing what happens when you have just a phone call and a discussion. We’d love to do it. Hopefully, we’ll be able to make a deal with the producers, and we’ll see where it goes. But, at this point in time, it’s just a discussion for development.”
When asked if the network was really considering airing a show about high schoolers viciously murdering each other, Pedowitz responded:
“At this point in time, it’s only in development, and we’re not even actually in development. All that existed was a phone call. And we’re not planning to do anything that we cannot get on the air. So, the answer to that question is, no, we’re not going to go in that direction. We’re going to wait to see what happens and how things develop.”
Not really sure if that’s good news or bad news. Let’s just stop talking about this and pretend it never happened…
BATTLE ROYALE star Chaiki Kuriyama