‘Star Trek’ Alum Jonathan Frakes to Direct Sci-Fi Adaptation of ‘Arthur C. Clarke’s Venus Prime’ (EXCLUSIVE)

Photo by Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images for Hallmark Media

“Star Trek” alum Jonathan Frakes is set to direct sci-fi series “Arthur C. Clarke’s Venus Prime.” He has also joined the producing team.

“Arthur C. Clarke’s Venus Prime” has also upped writers David Cormican (“Tokyo Trial”) and Dwayne Hill (“Northern Rescue”) to exec producers and showrunners. The six-episode series is set to go into production at the end of this year in Canada.

“When the materials for ‘Arthur C. Clarke’s Venus Prime’ were presented to me, I couldn’t help but devour them,” Frakes said. “When asked if I wanted to direct what I read —my answer was a resounding and immediate ‘Hell, yes!’ Working on such a tremendous piece of IP from the mind of another sci-fi legend (who is also a contemporary of the true #1 Gene Roddenberry), will be both an honor and a dream for me.”

Claxson and Navajo acquired the rights to the book series from iBooks, an imprint of J. Boylston & Company. Arthur C. Clarke collaborator Paul Preuss is also on board as a consultant.

The series is a Navajo Entertainment production in association with Claxson, Washington Square Entertainment, Palatin Media, Julijette, Karma Film, Fun Republic Pictures and virtual production studio / film financier Volume Global.

Cormican and Anand Ramayya and Juliette Hagopian are series producers. Exec producers are Volume Global’s Christopher Rush Harrington and Michael Hamilton-Wright along with Claxson’s Roberto Vivo and Bernd Schlötterer of Palatin Media.

Executive producer Lucas Vivo Garcia Lagos added: “Bringing ‘Arthur C. Clarke’s Venus Prime’ to audiences is a huge privilege and responsibility. These books, along with the incredible characters and storylines, have been with me since my adolescence; I have always believed this IP has all the necessary elements to become a major blockbuster. By uniting the collective talents of Preuss, Cormican and Hill with Jonathan Frakes at the helm, we are confident we have assembled the perfect team to realize the cinematic vision we all share for this iconic property”.

Paradigm’s Babacar Diene, Bill Douglass and Wilson Rubinoff negotiated Frakes’ deal with Fun Republic Pictures’ Cormican.

Palatin will rep international sales worldwide excluding Latin America, which Claxson will represent.