Minority Report TV-Series Preview – Can Fox do Sci-Fi right this time?

Minority Report TV-Series Preview

More than 13 years after the movie Minority Report with Tom Cruise was released a TV-series is in production. I can’t say that I am surprised. Fox is desperate to find a counter balance to Person Of Interest from rival CBS. So what is Minority Report all about? Well, it is based on a short novel by famed Sci-Fi author Philip K. Dick. The story follows Police Commissioner John A. Anderton after he himself is accused of a murder he is supposed to commit in the future. Anderton works for the Precrime taskforce that uses precognition from three brain damaged participants as proof. Just like in the 2002 movie John believes he has been false accused. Luckily, the 2002 directed by Steven Spielberg stayed truthful to the spirit of the original by creating an elaborate multi-layer story. The source material is no doubt very appealing to a channel like Fox who has to contend with a TV market in which smart crime drama’s are all the rage. And have been for over a decade.

The TV-series that is in production is set in 2065, set some 15 years after the movie. The series will feature Dash, one of the three precogs that after the events of the movie found their talents unused. His counterpart at the police force is detective Lara Vega whom he helps solving murders before they occur. Dash and Vega can’t reveal how the crimes are solved as the Precrime department has been officially disbanded. Meanwhile Dash continues to search for his lost brother Arthur. The series is scheduled to premiere on September 21, 2015.

So who will play the lead roles?

Detective Lara Vega will be played by Meagan Good. Dash will be played by Stark Sands. Other confirmed characters are Agatha, who will be played by Laura Regan. Daniel London will be the only actor to reprise the role he played in the movie as Wally, the precog caretaker. Samantha Morton was offered to reprise her roles as Agatha but turned it down. Other confirmed actors are Nick Zano, Li Jun Li, Zhane Hall and Wilmer Valderrama.

Will it be any good?

To me it sounds as if Minority Report has more than just a passing resemblance to Person of Interest. Though strictly speaking the reverse may also be true. I can hope only that Lara Vega won’t be goose hunting like Detective Carter was in the first half of season 1 of PoI. After Fox’s cancellation of Almost Human and Fringe before that Fox is shopping around for a new mainstream Science Fiction TV show. That said, both Almost Human and Fringe were cancelled because of low ratings. Combining elements of Person of Interest with Science Fiction seems like an interesting mixture of genres to generate appeal. Proper support from Fox will be vital. Last year it did its best to get Almost Human cancelled by showing the episodes out of sequence. An event that echoed what happened to Whedon’s Firefly over a decade ago. Only thing left is to give the series a decent budget and allow the creative staff to fully explore a world set 50 years now from now.

Don’t forget to come back in September for the review of Minority Report. You can watch the official trailer for Minority Report below.

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Source; http://www.fox.com/minority-report