In the original “Star Trek” TV series, the crewmen wearing red shirts tended to die in absurdly high volumes. Over the years, this has become a popular recurring joke among sci-fi fans and it even inspired John Scalzi’s 2012 novel, “Redshirts.” Outside of Galaxy Quest, very few Star Trek inspired spoofs have made it into production. But “Redshirts” may soon get its chance on television.
According to Deadline, “Redshirts” is getting adapted as a TV miniseries at FX by executive producers Jon Shestack (Dan In Real Life), Ken Kwapis (Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants) and Alexandra Beattie. Kwapis is slated to direct the first episode and the network is currently looking for writers to attach to this project..
The story of “Redshirts” is set in the 25th century and it revolves around five of the newest crewmen on the Starship Intrepid as they figure out that the ridiculous mortality rate of their peers on the ship is due to a bizarre connection between the future and a sci-fi TV series that was produced in the 21st century. In other words, the crew members are trapped in a story that they can’t control.
Prior to winning the 2013 Hugo Award for “Redshirts,” Scalzi was best known for his sci-fi novel series, “Old Man’s War” and his standalone books, “Agent to the Stars,” “The Android’s Dream” and “Fuzzy Nation.” Scalzi was also a creative consultant on “Stargate Universe.”
There is currently no timetable for the release of “Redshirts” on FX.
