MIDNIGHTERS by Scott Westerfeld Will Once Again Be Adapted For Television

The CW is taking another stab at developing New York Times Best Selling Author Scott Westerfeld's series Midnighters for television. Westerfeld is best-known for his Uglies series, which was a hot YA dystopian before The Hunger Games published and made the genre popular all over again.

THE CW has been trying to bring the series to life since it was still called the WB. The first adaptation was attempted by the WB for a 2005 premiere, led by the then-channel's Charmed showrunner Brad Kern. The mother station, NBC, later attempted to adapt it for 2009 with Chad Hodge (Wayward Pines) heading the project. A third adaptation was developed for Fox, with the doomed project headed by Chris Fedak (Chuck).

This is the fourth attempt to bring Midnighters to television. The current adaptation is being spearhead by Blindspot producers Chris Pozzebon and Martin Gero, together with Warner Bros. TV and Alloy Entertainment, who published the novels and is owned by Warner Brothers.

This time around, the adaptation ages up the characters, who are no longer teenagers, but in their late 20s, which will appeal to a wider audience, especially as Supernatural comes to an end and The CW looks for a new supernatural series to take its place. The series, if brought to fruition, will star a brother and sister who find out that they're Midnighters. Midnighters are people born at the stroke of midnight, which allows them to experience a 25th hour each day while the rest of the world basically freezes during this time. In a Buffy-esque spin, it is up to the Midnighters to save the world from an evil being who has been hiding in the 25th hour for eons and about to break free into our world.

It is unclear at this time how much will be kept from the original trilogy (THE SECRET HOUR, TOUCHING DARKNESS, BLUE NOON) and how much will be re-invented into a way that works for production, especially since this is the fourth attempt at bringing the series to life. The characters have already been aged up, but the plot has echoes of many series that have made The WB/CW popular with butt-kicking paranormal shows over the years.

Hopefully, this will be the adaptation that works and introduces Westerfeld's popular series to a new audience. BroadwayWorld Books will keep you updated as the treatment progresses toward premiere season.

ABOUT MIDNIGHTERS #1: THE SECRET HOUR:

This is the first book in New York Times bestselling author Scott Westerfeld's Midnighters series.

A few nights after Jessica Day arrives in Bixby, Oklahoma, she wakes up at midnight to find the entire world frozen. For one secret hour each night, the town belongs to the dark creatures that haunt the shadows. And only a small group of people-Jessica included-is free to move about then. They are The Midnighters.

THE SECRET HOUR is the first book in the Midnighters trilogy, from the acclaimed New York Times bestselling author of the Uglies series.

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