Syfy optioned Frederik Pohl's Gateway
Science fiction grandmaster Frederik Pohl’s Gateway, one of the genre’s best-known, most-lauded novels, has been picked up by the Syfy channel for development into a series, offering additional evidence that the once-maligned network is committed to living up to its name.
Published in 1977, Gateway earned the Hugo, Locus, Nebula, and John W. Campbell Memorial Awards for best novel in the following year. Originally serialized in Galaxy Science Fiction, it takes place in a future in which humanity has discovered a space station carved into the middle of an asteroid, left behind by a long-dead alien species dubbed the Heechee. Humans learn to operate the the numerous star ships found inside, which take their passengers to far-off worlds.
The catch: the ships can’t be controlled, and there’s no telling where they’ll end up, or how long it will take to get there. Most of the trips lead to danger, death, or nothing particularly interesting, but precious few result in the discovery of new alien tech, and bringing it back means untold riches for the lucky pilots. Robinette Broadhead has retuned from just such a mission; he’s now unimaginably wealthy, but haunted by the human cost of his success.
Pohl was inspired to write the novel after speaking with a scientist who noted that while humanity might not have been visited by extraterrestrials, Earth very well could have been; discovering a planet with no advance civilizations, the visitors might have passed it by, leaving something behind.
Syfy has recently picked up a number of high-profile science fiction novels for the small screen, including James S.A. Corey’s Expanse series, Arthur C. Clarke’s Childhood’s End, and Lev Grossman’s The Magicians. This latest acqusition brings together David Eick (Battlestar Galactica) and Josh Pate (Falling Skies), who will act as showrunners.
It promises to be a great companion to other recent Syfy offerings like Dark Matter or Killjoys, and it’ll be interesting to see how it proceeds. There are multiple sequels, including Beyond the Blue Event Horizon, The Boy Who Would Live Forever, and others, meaning there’s plenty of material to adapt if the show takes off (insert observation that television success is about as predictable as hopping into an uncontrollable alien spacecraft).
Pohl passed away in 2014, but was involved in the work to bring his novel to television before his death.