More aliens are coming to Earth. Today, Showtime announced that BAFTA Award winner Bill Nighy is joining their upcoming drama series The Man Who Fell To Earth, based both on the Walter Tevis and its 1976 film adaptation. Nighy takes over the role of Thomas Jerome Newton, the crash-landed alien originally played by musician and artist David Bowie in the film.

Because The Man Who Fell To Earth will feature a new alien, Faraday (Chiwetel Ejiofor), Nighy's Newton feature as a side character, having summoned Faraday to Earth to help him to complete his mission. But after many, many years on Earth, Newton is not the same character audiences may remember from the 1976 film, and his sanity is teetering on the brink of collapse.

The series will see Nighy and Ejiofor starring alongside Jimmi Simpson, Rob Delaney, Sonya Cassidy, Joana Ribeiro, Annelle Olaleye, Kate Mulgrew, and Clarke Peters.Nighy has had a long and storied acting career, but following in the footsteps of someone as iconic as Bowie is no easy task. Of his casting, he said:

“I was honoured to be invited to play the part of Thomas Jerome Newton that glorious David Bowie made so famous. I was keen to work with Chiwetel and Naomie again. I think the story is terrific and brilliantly expressed. I am an enthusiast for shows which extrapolate from current technology and give us plausible glimpses of a possible near future. It’s an important story which, as well as being highly entertaining, discusses the crucial issues of our time. I like to think that the filmmakers of the original film would applaud Alex Kurtzman and Jenny Lumet for their imaginative daring and loyal regard.”

david-bowie-the-man-who-fell-to-earth-image
Image via British Lion Films

RELATED: ‘Living’ Review: Bill Nighy-Starring ‘Ikiru’ Adaptation Asks What Will We Be Remembered For? | Sundance 2022

The Man Who Fell To Earth is executive produced by Alex Kurtzman, Jenny Lumet, John Hlavin, Sarah Timberman, Carl Beverly, Heather Kadin, Aaron Baiers, and Ejiofor alongside STUDIOCANAL’s Rola Bauer and Françoise Guyonnet. The series is produced by CBS Studios in association with Secret Hideout and Timberman/Beverly.

The series is expected to premiere on Showtime later this year.