As previously reported, The CW has been in discussion with the U.S. rights holders of the Battle Royale property with the intent to turn it into an American television series. Of course, a number of factors need to occur for that to happen, including the blessing of “Battle Royale” author Koushun Takami. However, the mere mention of “discussions” alone sent genre/cult fans into a tizzy last week.
Now, Mark Pedowitz is weighing in the series rumblings. The CW president was on a TCA (Television Critics Association) panel recently and the press was able to grill him on the latest developments.
HitFix.com addressed the obvious – is today’s environment right for a show about kids killing kids? Pedowitz replied: “At this point in time, its only in development, and were not even ‘in development.’ All that existed was a phone call. And were not planning to do anything that we cannot get on the air. So the answer to that question is, no, were not going to go in that direction. Were going to wait to see what happens and how things develop.”
Pedowitz explained that The CW is looking for a show with a “Game of Thrones”/The Hunger Games vibe. That may be sated by their new series “The Selection,” however. If it is not, Battle Royale might fit the bill.
Again, as we stated earlier, all of this is super early, so it may never, ever happen. For more from the TCA panel, head to IGN.
