Steven Moffat, the genius behind the likes of the recent Doctor Who seasons and the BBC’s Sherlock, will bring a TV version of The Time Traveler’s Wife to screens, so reports HBO, who are backing it.
The original book, which was then turned into a film with Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams, followed a librarian named Henry De Tamble (Eric Bana) who suffers from a rare genetic disorder that causes him to drift uncontrollably back and forth through time. On one of his sojourns, he meets the love of his life, Claire (Rachel McAdams), and they marry. But the problems and complexities of any relationship are multiplied by Henry’s inability to remain in one time and place, so that he and his beloved are continually out of sync.
Moffat released a statement after the news of the TV version was aired:
“I read Audrey Niffenegger’s The Time Traveler’s Wife many years ago, and I fell in love with it. 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,” HBO president of programming Casey Bloys said. “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.”