Action-adventure video game American McGee’s Alice is pursuing the adaptation route once again. In an exclusive with The Hollywood Reporter, Radar Pictures was announced to have secured the rights to a television series based around the game. David Hayter, writer of the 2000 X-Men movie, has been tapped as the series showrunner.
The videogame franchise, created and designed by American James McGee, features two games, the aforementioned 2000 American McGee’s Alice, often shortened to just Alice, and its 2011sequel Alice: Madness Returns. The series is a dark retelling of the children's classic Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, which sees the heroine as an asylum patient after witnessing her family die in a house fire. Racked with survivor's guilt, Alice Liddell retreats into her own mind and into the world of Wonderland, now as twisted and disfigured as her psyche. On her adventure, Alice must defeat the Queen of Hearts in hopes of healing her trauma.
“American McGee’s Alice and Alice: Madness Returns game series is a groundbreaking reimagining of the classic tale,” Hayter told THR in a statement. “It takes you into the heart of a corrupted Wonderland and throws light into shadowy corners the world has never seen. I am beyond excited to bring this world of madness and wonder to a global audience.” Hayter is also credited with writing X-Men 2, Watchmen, and is currently developing the script for a live-action adaptation of Voltron.
This is long from Alice’s first attempt at breaking out of the videogame sphere. While Hayter’s adaptation will be the franchise’s first time pursuing television, the film rights have changed hands many times. Between 2000 and 2003, various reports indicated a computer-animated film version of the game with Wes Craven attached to direct. Initially signed to Dimension Films, this path never evolved past a script treatment before being handed off to 20th Century Fox. From there, Universal Pictures held onto the rights with few casting details released, until the production was in turnaround and ultimately abandoned in 2008. McGee reacquired the rights, attempted a Kickstarter-funded feature film, and placed the project on hiatus in 2015.
No network or streaming platform is currently attached to the project. However, McGee has expressed complete confidence in Hayter and his vision for the series, stating,
“David Hayter brings imagination, experience, and stealth sneaking skills gained through successful missions in film, TV, and video games – a unique combination sure to make this adventure into Wonderland a successful one for the franchise and the fans. I am excited to be working with him and know the Alice fans will welcome him with mad affection.”
Along with writing the series, Hayter is set to share producing credits with Anthony Tringali, Maria Frisk, Michael Napoliello, Karen Lauder, and Marcus Ticotin, as a result of the collaboration between Radar Pictures and Abandon Entertainment. The series will be executive produced by Radar Picture’s founder Ted Field. McGee’s Alice franchise is developed by Rogue Entertainment and published by Electronic Arts. As production begins on the television adaptation of the first two games, McGee will continue work on the next sequel Alice: Asylum and Oz: Adventures, an adventure game based on The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum.