Last year it was announced that Apple has snapped up the TV rights to Terry Gilliam’s cult 80s fantasy Time Bandits for a small screen adaptation, and now comes word that the project has found a pilot director in Taika Waititi (Thor: Ragnarok).
Waititi – whose other credits include What We Do In the Shadows and Hunt for the Wilderpeople – is set to co-write the pilot, as well as directing and executive producing with Terry Gilliam and Dan Halsted.
The original 1981 film follows an eleven-year-old boy called Kevin who finds himself whisked away from his bedroom by a band of dwarves who have stolen a spacetime map from the Supreme Being. Together they set off on a time-travelling adventure, meeting historical figures such as Napoleon Bonaparte and Robin Hood, while being pursued by the malevolent being Evil who wants to acquire the map for his own nefarious purposes.
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Time Bandits marks the latest TV project for the New Zealand filmmaker, who has recently shot episodes of FX’s What We Do In the Shadows TV adaptation, along with the live-action Star Wars series The Mandalorian. His next feature film, Jojo Rabbit, is set to arrive later this year.