"I still haven't found what I'm looking for," but this might be close. The Hollywood Reporter has shared that Netflix is teaming up with Bad Robot, J.J. Abrams' production company, to develop a biopic series about the Irish post-punk rock band U2.
U2 was formed in 1976 with frontman Bono, lead guitarist the Edge, bassist Adam Clayton, and drummer Larry Mullen Jr. in Dublin, Ireland. The band would go on to release 14 studio albums, starting with 1980's Boy and releasing their latest album as recently as 2017 with Songs of Experience. The band is often remembered for its political statements, especially with their third album, War, which featured songs like "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and "New Year's Day." The band is also known for the spiritual imagery they include in their lyrics, which can best be seen in their album The Joshua Tree with songs like "In God's Country" and "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For."
Not much is known about the currently untitled show, as it is only in the early stages of development, but U2 is said to be involved in some capacity. What we do know about the show is that it will be written by three-time Academy Award-nominated writer Anthony McCarten. McCarten is no stranger to the biopic. All three of his Oscar nominations have come from writing films in the genre. He was nominated for The Theory of Everything, about Stephen Hawking, Darkest Hour, about Winston Churchill, and The Two Popes, about the relationship between Pope Benedict XVI and the future Pope Francis. It also won't be his first foray into biopics about musicians has he has previously written Bohemian Rhapsody, Freddie Mercury and Queen.
The news of a U2 series is not completely surprising, as the musician biopic genre has been picking up a lot of steam recently. Following the success of films like Bohemian Rhapsody and Elton John's Rocketman, more and more have been announced for iconic musicians across various genres. This year will see the release of Baz Luhrmann's Elvis, a Madonna movie is currently being cast, and a Bob Marley movie is on its way as well. Even Weird Al is getting one! The only truly surprising thing is that U2 is getting a whole series instead of a movie, but with a forty-plus-year career, it makes sense.
This series is being added onto an ever-growing slate of programming with Abrams' name attached. He is currently working with DC on both a planned Justice League Dark franchise and a new animated Batman series. He is also producing a new Stephen King adaptation, a new movie set in the Cloverfield universe, and many, many more. The man is nothing if not busy.
Stay tuned to Collider for any further updates on this series.