Waterworld sequel streaming series: Dan Trachtenberg directing pilot

Last Updated on August 10, 2021

Producers John Davis and John Fox of Davis Entertainment must be having a great time working with director Dan Trachtenberg on the new Predator movie (which is going by the title Skull), because Collider has just learned that the producers are going to be re-teaming with Trachtenberg on a streaming series continuation of the 1995 film Waterworld (watch it HERE).

Directed by Kevin Reynolds from a screenplay by Peter Rader and David Twohy, Waterworld starred Kevin Costner as 

The Mariner, an otherwise nameless drifter who sails the Earth, which has flooded after the polar ice cap completely melted, forcing the sea level to rise. The Mariner, whose body has mutated in order to adapt to its water-logged surroundings, reluctantly agrees to help a woman (Jeanne Triplehorn) and a young girl (Tina Majorino) try to find dry land while they fight off starvation and outrun a group of outlaw "smokers" led by the late Dennis Hopper.

The most expensive movie ever made at the time of its release (the budget was said to be in the $175 million range), Waterworld was made out to be disaster – especially since it didn't recoup its budget at the box office. But it was a home video success, and I always found the film to be entertaining. Going back to it recently, Davis found that it held up and had franchise potential.

Davis told Collider, 

The only movie that I went back recently, that we made and rewatched and I was surprised at how well it held up, is Waterworld. For many, many years I didn't really want to see it because I thought the movie didn't work, it wasn't what the script was, it was not as good as the script, it had its production problems. And then I went back and saw it again, and it's like, 'Oh yeah, this movie ages great with time.'"

The streaming series is in development at Universal Television and the producers believe they have already found a streaming service to call home, but they wouldn't say which one it is. While Trachtenberg is on board to direct the pilot (as he did for The Boys), a showrunner hasn't been hired yet. Fox said, 

We're talking to folks, but nobody locked in yet. Dan's attached, we're breaking the story now and we're talking to a few different writers. And we should have a writer locked in, I would think, over the next couple of weeks."

Davis didn't say which characters the show would center on, but he did say it would take place 

20 years later. All those people, 20 years later."

We'll keep you updated on the Waterworld series as it continues to move forward.