1212 Entertainment, Anonymous Content Team to Adapt Ursula K. Le Guin’s ‘The Dispossessed’ as TV Series (EXCLUSIVE)

1212 Entertainment and Anonymous Content are teaming to adapt the Ursula K. Le Guin novel “The Dispossessed” into a limited series, Variety has learned exclusively.

The book was originally published in 1974 and won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards upon its debut. It tells the story of the twin planets of Anarres and Urras, which remain divided by centuries of fear and distrust. The utopian colony on Anarres has long been isolated from its mother planet Urras, a civilization of warring nations, great poverty, and immense wealth. On Anarres, a brilliant physicist has developed a theory that overcomes the limitations of time and distance, altering the understanding of space itself. This theory has the potential to radically change these two worlds and their place in the wider universe, but in order to prove it, he must travel to Urras and attempt to tear down the walls that have kept the two civilizations apart for generations.

“Beyond all her other works, Ursula K. Le Guin’s ‘The Dispossessed’ has a visceral connection to the present and so accurately matches the world we’re living in right now,” said 1212’s Joshua Long and Roberto Grande. “There are few works of science fiction that have had a greater impact on the genre and we’re proud the estate has trusted us with the task of adapting this masterpiece into a new medium.”

No writer is currently attached to the project. Anonymous Content’s chief creative officer, David Levine, will oversee the project for AC Studios along with Long and Grande for 1212. LeGuin’s son, Theo Downes-Le Guin, is also participating in the development process.

“‘The Dispossessed’ is a well-crafted exploration of the current schism in our society and can offer us a path of reconciliation without accusations, condescension, and judgement, one that is both escapist and thought-provoking at the same time” said Levine.

“Almost a half-century after its publication, ‘The Dispossessed’ continues to offer timely propositions for how we might rethink the corner into which we’ve painted ourselves,” said Downes-Le Guin. “I am delighted to collaborate with 1212 Entertainment and Anonymous Content to help my mother’s words and ideas reach an ever-broader audience.”