Taika Waititi will direct Apple’s Time Bandits series

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Somehow I was unaware but it looks like Apple is going to be bringing us a series based on Terry Gilliam's TIME BANDITS. The show is still only in development over at Apple but it looks like it just took a major step forward as today we're hearing that Taika Waititi has just signed on to co-write and direct the pilot episode. Most people out there at this point in time seem to know Waititi as the director of Marvel's super-smash THOR: RAGNAROK starring The Incredible Hulk, but all of us genre fans know him for his work in front of and behind the camera on WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS.

Again, this is merely being considered a potential series at this point so let's not get our hopes too high. Yes, there will be a pilot episode… but from there… I guess we'll have to wait and see with fingers crossed. On top of co-writing and directing the pilot, Waititi will also serve as executive producer alongside Gilliam and producer Dan Halsted. Anonymous Content, Paramount Television, and Media Rights Capital co-produce. 

Apple made a deal for the rights last summer.

While there is still no telling just how much the series and the original movie will have in common plot-wise, we will make sure to stay on top of this story and pass along news and updates as we hear them. Until then, here's the synopsis for Terry Gilliam's version:

Young history buff Kevin (Craig Warnock) can scarcely believe it when six dwarfs emerge from his closet one night. Former employees of the Supreme Being (Ralph Richardson), they've purloined a map charting all of the holes in the fabric of time and are using it to steal treasures from different historical eras. Taking Kevin with them, they variously drop in on Napoleon (Ian Holm), Robin Hood (John Cleese) and King Agamemnon (Sean Connery) before the Supreme Being catches up with them.

The original movie was produced and directed by Gilliam from a screenplay he co-wrote along with his MONTY PYTHON cohort Michael Palin. The film starred John Cleese, Sean Connery, Shelley Duvall, Katherine Helmond, Ian Holm, Michael Palin, Ralph Richardson, Peter Vaughan, and David Warner as Evil. On top of that killer cast, the film also sported music by Mike Moran and songs by George Harrison. Buy it on Blu-ray HERE.