Sleeping Giants book cover – Picture: Sylvain Neuvel
Sylvain Neuvel’s science fiction fantasy novels that make up The Themis Files are being adapted for Netflix, What’s on Netflix has learned.
Netflix themselves have yet to confirm an adaptation of The Themis Files is officially in the works, but several people working within Netflix list the project in development on their professional profiles.
Andrew Norman is specifically leading the charge on the movie, having worked as director of Original Studio Film at Netflix since July of this year. His other active projects include Rebel Moon, Atlas, Aurora, Bioshock, and Gears of War.
We do not currently know who is attached to write, produce, or direct the project. We’ll update this preview once we know more.
Amblin Partners is the production company behind the movie. They’re the studio led by Steven Spielberg that’s already producing a slew of movies for Netflix via a film partnership that was struck back in 2021. Carry On is expected to be one of the biggest new titles out of the partnership with Amblin Partners, which is expected to hit in 2024.
Amblin’s Television division is also working with Netflix on several projects, and Amblin Entertainment also serves as the production company on Netflix’s Oscar hopeful Maestro.
What is The Themis Files?
Book covers for The Themis Files – Picture: Sylvain Neuvel
The Themis Files is a trilogy of books released between 2016 and 2018 by prolific Canadian author Sylvain Neuval that mixes sci-fi and apocalyptic fiction with politics.
The three books are as follows:
- Sleeping Giants
- Waking Gods
- Only Human
The Themis Files are told through a series of interviews, journal entries, and other assorted documents. It begins with Sleeping Giants, where a young girl named Rose Franklin falls through the earth and lands in the palm of a giant metal hand. Years later, Rose Franklin is now a physicist and leads a team to understand the origins and purpose of this mysterious artifact.
In addition, since the original trilogy of books were released, Nuevel has also released four offshoot books that serve as companions to the main stories. Each entry is dubbed as a “File,” with four being released in total:
- Book 0.5 – File N°002
- Book 1.5 – File N°247
- Book 2.5 – File N°1743
- Book 3.5 – File N°2491
The Themis Files was previously in development at Sony
This isn’t the first time Themis Files has been eyed for an adaptation to the big screen.
Back in February 2015, Deadline reported that Sony Pictures had optioned the book ahead of the first release onto shelves with David Koepp (the writer behind Secret Window, Stir of Echoes, You Should Have Left) to help produce it.
Whether Koepp is on board for Netflix’s adaptation is unclear, but it’s worth noting that the writer had been working on the aforementioned Aurora sci-fi movie that Kathryn Bigelow is set to direct.
For more on the upcoming sci-fi slate to Netflix, check out our guides to the upcoming movies and series.