Getting Philip K. Dick adaptations right on the big and small screens is not an easy feat. The author’s complex prose and defiance of conventional storytelling formats have often made his works difficult to translate into visual mediums. Yet, owing to his influence on the sci-fi genre, his books and stories keep getting picked up for adaptations.
Netflix, too, has picked up one of his more cult classic stories for the small screen treatment. While only time will tell whether the Netflix Philip K. Dick adaptation will turn out to be as good as other takes on his works like Blade Runner and Minority Report, it could potentially be the perfect follow-up show for those who enjoyed an epic 4-season time-loop drama.
Netflix’s Upcoming Philip K. Dick Adaptation Can Be The Perfect Follow-Up To 12 Monkeys
Netflix is adapting Philip K. Dick’s The World Jones Made. Titled The Future Is Ours, the upcoming sci-fi series could feel like the perfect follow-up to the 12 Monkeys TV remake. Like Cole in 12 Monkeys, The World Jones Made focuses on a character who is cursed by his connection to time. He cannot time travel, but he has the ability to see one year ahead in the future.
Throughout its runtime, 12 Monkeys also navigates whether its villains are truly on the wrong path or only disillusioned by their perceived vision of the greater good. The World Jones Made takes a similar approach in its portrayal of precognition by showing how it initially comes off as a mere circus trick before a global demagogue.
If the upcoming Netflix sci-fi show stays true to the book, it could explore whether Jones is a savior or a tyrant just like 12 Monkeys highlights the moral ambiguities of its time-traveling characters.
In both stories, the characters also struggle to accept the inevitability of the future. James Cole often struggles with the “Fixed Point,” Jones becomes a prisoner of his visions of the future. Both narratives also feature “prophetic” figures who use their knowledge of the timeline to influence the masses and trigger a global conspiracy.
Certain individuals in 12 Monkeys are also “tuned” to time or genetically modified to withstand the rigors of the machine. Similarly, in The World Jones Made, precognition is portrayed more as a natural trait in the main character, and certain individuals are also genetically engineered by the government to live on Venus in the story.
With so many intriguing thematic and narrative parallels between the two, Netflix’s The Future is Ours can come off as the perfect follow-up to 12 Monkeys.
12 Monkeys Is A Rare TV Remake That’s As Good As Its Parent Movie
Most TV extensions of critically acclaimed movies feel forced and unnecessary. However, 12 Monkeys is a rare TV reboot that not only adds more heft to the lore established by its parent movies but also etches its own identity. Instead of merely emulating the movie’s formula and adopting its time-loop nihilism, the show springboards into a multi-generational conspiracy thriller.
It presents the perfect cyclical narrative in which some developments from season 1 are perfectly paid off in the final installment. None of its episodes feel like fillers because even detail and story beat feel pre-planned.
Just like the original movie makes good use of Brad Pitt’s character to add a layer of levity to its story, even the show adds Emily Hampshire’s Jennifer Goines to the mix, who becomes the very soul of its best chapters.
Time travel storytelling is often riddled with plot holes. However, 12 Monkeys maintains tight logic throughout its runtime and refuses to break its established rules. This ensures the show has little to no narrative inconsistencies throughout its runtime.
While only time will tell whether Netflix’s take on the Philip K. Dick story will prove to be as good as 12 Monkeys, viewers can always revisit the incredible TV reboot even if the Netflix series does not turn out to be underwhelming.