Nicolas Winding Refn’s Barbarella project lands at Amazon

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

It’s been quite a while since we got an update on Nicolas Winding Refn‘s "Barbarella" TV series, with our last report coming almost one year ago when Neal Purvis and Robert Wade – writers of the five most recent James Bond films, including the excellent SKYFALL – were tapped to scribble out "Barbarella" for Refn and Gaumont International Television, which is producing. In the months since that report we haven't heard a peep from the project but now we've learned that "Barbarella" is still a GO and has now found a home with Amazon, according to Deadline.

Deadline is reporting that Amazon Studios is developing a pilot for the series, and is now in the process of looking for a showrunner. It’ll still be a while before "Barbarella" actually hits our screens but if Amazon likes what it sees then we can possibly be looking forward to seeing it go to series.

A "Barbarella" reboot has been in the works for years. First, it was being developed as a movie, with directors like Robert Rodriguez and Robert Luketic attached at various points. When those incarnations failed to gain traction, producer Gaumont International Television revamped the project as a TV show. Refn signed on a year and a half ago, and hired Neal Purvis and Robert Wade to pen the pilot script last year. The DRIVE and ONLY GOD FORGIVES helmer will executive produce the series alongside Martha De Laurentiis, widow of original BARBARELLA producer Dino De Laurentiis. It’s unclear whether Refn will also direct.