After years of development, Taika Waititi’s Apple TV Time Bandits series has been officially green-lit, with Lisa Kudrow leading the cast.
Apple TVs Time Bandits series has finally been given the green light, with Lisa Kudrow to lead the all-star cast in the new adaptation of the Terry Gilliam fantasy film. The project was originally developed in 2019 and there have been few updates on the project which will be written, directed and executive produced by Thor: Love and Thunder‘s Taika Waititi. The rest of the cast includes Karl-El Tuck, Charlyne Yi, Tadhg Murphy, Roger Jean Nsengiyumva, Rune Temte, Kiera Thompson and Rachel House.
The original Time Bandits film was released in 1981 and has become a cult classic. It tells the story of an 11-year-old who goes on time-travel adventures with a group of dwarves who have stolen a map that maps the space-time structure and every hole that can be used to travel through time and space. As the “Time Bandits” plan to make their way through history and steal wealth, they come across a number of figures from both history and legend, a theme that was later reflected in The Excellent Adventure of Bill and Ted and other movies. The film featured a huge cast including Sean Connery, John Cleese, Ian Holm, David Warner, Michael Palin and Shelley Duvall.
The new series appears to adapt the story without much change, and is described as a “comic journey through time and space with a riotous band of thieves and their newest recruit: an 11-year-old history nerd.” Waititi is helming the first two episodes of the 10-episode series.
Time Bandits Could be the perfect project for Taika Waititi
While Taika Waititi’s recent Marvel outing of Thor: Love and Thunder didn’t go as well as expected with the public or critics, the Time Bandits series could be exactly the kind of wacky comedy Waititi is perfectly suited for. Waititi co-wrote the pilot for the series, and although the project has now been in development for four years, it appears that Apple TV has opted to go straight to the series.
The original Time Bandits was, in part, an extended extension of Gilliam’s work with the Monty Python team, even including his fellow Pythons John Cleese and Michael Palin in the film. Given the unique and outlandish sense of humor that came with everything that Gilliam and co were a part of, it will clearly fit into Waititi’s street, and the comedic elements of Thor: Love and Thunder which seemed to push the envelope just a little too far will be perfectly suited to the time-traveling shenanigans.
Of course Waititi is also busy with a script for his Star Wars movie, which apparently is still moving fast. While the writer/director recently said that the film won’t be released in the near future, he did provide a positive update that fans are sure to see soon.