Apple adds Isaac Asimov sci-fi series to TV development list

Isaac Asimov`s influential "Foundation" science fiction novels about the collapse and resurgence of a galactic empire are heading to Apple Inc as a television drama series, a company spokeswoman said on Tuesday. The series is the latest step the iPhone maker has taken to acquire original programming as it seeks to rival more established outlets such as Netflix Inc , Time Warner Inc`s HBO and Amazon.com Inc`s Amazon Studios. It is unclear when Apple`s shows will be released, and where viewers will be able to see them. The company has not said if it will distribute them through its own iTunes Store, where it sells shows and films by other companies, or on another platform.

David S. Goyer, screenwriter of blockbusters "The Dark Night" and "Batman Begins," and Josh Friedman, the writer of Steven Spielberg`s 2005 sci-fi adaptation "War of the Worlds," have been charged to bring Asimov`s work to the TV screen. Hollywood`s attempts over the past two decades to bring the Russian-American author and scientist`s saga of humans living on planets scattered throughout the Milky Way galaxy to either television or the big screen have so far never come to fruition.

The "Foundation" series began as several short stories published between 1942 and 1950, and was later developed into a trilogy of novels published from 1951 to 1953. It won a Hugo Award, the top awards for science fiction and fantasy writing, in 1966 as best all-time series, the only time the award has been handed out.

Apple has already ordered two seasons of a drama about a morning TV program starring Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston, as well as a remake of Spielberg`s 1980 sci-fi anthology series "Amazing Stories."