Shortly before the pandemic came the news that Hulu had begun developing a TV series adaptation of Douglas Adams’ iconic sci-fi comedy novel series “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”.
Carlton Cuse (“Bates Motel,” “Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan”) and Jason Fuchs (“IT: Welcome to Derry”) were both developing the adaptation for ABC Signature with the pair writing, executive producing and showrunning.
And then… silence. Nothing seemed to stir on the project and now, years later, Emmy winner Cuse has explained that the proposed series has been dead for years and they never could quite get it to work.
Speaking with Screen Rant, he said the main issue was that it is “an incredibly difficult story to crack” and the writer’s room “didn’t really figure out a way to do it” for modern times:
“That happens [sometimes when] you work on things. It was a worthwhile shot to take, because I love that story so much. Even though it didn’t come to fruition, it was really fun to get to think about it a lot, and to reabsorb myself in that story and that world, because it was so brilliant.”
The property originated as a comedy radio series and became a hugely successful series of five novels as it followed the intergalactic adventures of hapless Englishman Arthur Dent.
Dent is one of the few humans to survive the complete obliteration of the Earth in the opening chapters of the book due to it being demolished to make way for a hyperspace bypass.
The property was adapted as a UK TV serial in 1981 and later as a 2005 feature film adaptation with Martin Freeman, Sam Rockwell, Mos Def and Alan Rickman.
