Universal TV adapting Robert Kirkman-produced comic “Clone”

PanARMENIAN.Net - Robert Kirkman is having quite a Comic-Con. The creator of The Walking Dead comics is celebrating the 10th anniversary of the series and debuted the first footage of its upcoming fourth season, and now one of the comics under the banner of the writer/exec producer's Image Comics imprint Skybound is being developed for TV at Universal Television, The Hollywood Reporter said.

Clone, from writer/creator David Schulner (The Event, Kings, Trauma), is being developed for TV with the project set up at Universal Television under the scribe's overall deal with the studio. The TV adaptation was announced Saturday during Skybound's panel at San Diego Comic-Con. Clone is a high-octane thriller with a sci-fi twist: What if there were more of you? And what if you could save those versions of yourself from being killed? The show’s themes of identity and nature vs. nurture are intrinsic to the roller-coaster ride of a story.

Schulner will pen the script and executive produce alongside Kirkman and The Walking Dead's David Alpert and David Engel.

"I knew if I went off the rails too badly Robert would be there to put me back on track," Schulner said. "Now I've been writing the comic for two years, issue 9 comes out next week and I just finished writing issue 15, so to be able to turn it into a television show is just icing on the cake."

For Kirkman, this marks his latest project in development. It joins AMC's comic adaptation Thief of Thieves -- inspired by his experience in the Walking Dead writers' room -- as well as an exorcism drama from Fox International Channels and Circle of Confusion. (FIC distributes Walking Dead worldwide.) Alpert and Chic Eglee are on board the exorcism drama.

The deal for Clone brings Kirkman to the NBC fold, who originally developed The Walking Dead with the series' first showrunner, Frank Darabont, but ultimately passed when the network decided it didn't want to do a zombie show afterall.

Kirkman's The Walking Dead continued to break its own ratings records with its recently completed third season. The series ranks at No. 1 among the advertiser-coveted adults 18-49 demographic. Kirkman is also CEO at Skybound, an imprint of Image Comics.