Mr. Robot‘s Sam Esmail is adapting the seminal Fritz Lang science fiction movie.  

After a lengthy gestation period, Deadline are reporting that the 1927 Fritz Lang silent movie Metropolis is to become an Apple TV+ television series. The deep-pocketed streamer has commissioned the project as part of Sam Esmail’s overall deal at Universal Content Productions (UCP).

In the works since at least 2016, last year the writer-director confirmed he was working on the pilot script. Metropolis will be entirely written and directed by Esmail. He will executive produce with his Esmail Corp production partner Chad Hamilton.

Metropolis

Written by Thea Von Harbou (based on her own novel), and directed by Fritz Lang, Metropolis takes place in a futuristic urban dystopia. The story follows the attempts of Freder, the wealthy son of the city master, and Maria, a saintly figure to the workers, to overcome the vast gulf separating the classes in their city and bring the workers together with Joh Fredersen, the city master.

Visually beautiful, Metropolis is one of the first science fiction feature films. Although it was not terribly well-regarded on its original release, it’s now considered a seminal work.

Sadly, the original version of the film is lost to history, but it remains in a number of different cuts; most recently, 2010’s The Complete Metropolis combined elements of various prints to piece together a version which runs to 148 minutes. This is considered to be around 95% restored.

Of course, the iconic image best known from the film is that of its robot, the Maschinenmensch; her art deco design has echoed through the decades since and influenced the likes of Star Wars‘ C3PO. She’s also appeared in pop videos and various other works of fiction. There was even a recent Doctor Who audio play which takes place in and around the filming of Metropolis, in Weimar Germany, with a Cyberman briefly supplanting the robot.

Naturally, at this early stage, there’s no timescale for Metropolis – but we’ll keep you posted.