Former Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat is set to adapt Audrey Niffenegger’s novel The Time Traveler’s Wife, with Deadline reporting that the project has received a straight-to-series order from HBO.
Based on the 2003 novel, the series is described as “an intricate and magical love story about Clare and Henry, and a marriage with a problem… time travel.”
“I read Audrey Niffenegger’s The Time Traveler’s Wife many years ago, and I fell in love with it,” said Moffat. “In fact, I wrote a Doctor Who episode called ‘The Girl In the Fireplace’ as a direct response to it. When, in her next novel, Audrey had a character watching that very episode, I realized she was probably on to me. All these years later, the chance to adapt the novel itself is a dream come true. The brave new world of long form television is now ready for this kind of depth and complexity. It’s a story of happy ever after — but not necessarily in that order.”
“We are thrilled to be partnering with Steven Moffat, Hartswood and WBTV on The Time Traveler’s Wife,” added HBO president of programming Casey Bloys. “Steven’s passion is evident in every project he’s written and we are certain that his love and respect for this mesmerizing and textured novel will make it a quintessential HBO series.”
The Time Traveler’s Wife was previously adapted for the big screen with the 2009 film starring Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams. A potential TV adaptation was also developed by ABC back in 2009 from Friends‘ Marta Kauffman, but failed to make it to series.
