Dead or alive, RoboCop is coming back.
And this time, Dan Stevens is wearing the armor.
Amazon’s upcoming RoboCop series has officially found its Alex Murphy, with Stevens set to play both the murdered Detroit police officer and the cybernetic law-enforcement machine he becomes.
And as a lifelong RoboCop fan?
Okay. You have my attention.
The series was officially greenlit by Amazon MGM Studios last month after floating around development for a couple of years. Stevens apparently emerged pretty quickly as the favorite to take over the role made iconic by Peter Weller in Paul Verhoeven’s absolutely brilliant 1987 original.
Those are some BIG metal boots to fill.
The new series will reportedly run eight episodes and comes from showrunner Peter Ocko, along with Blumhouse Atomic Monster. The premise sounds reassuringly familiar: a massive technology corporation convinces the city to put a powerful robot on the police force, except this particular machine contains the consciousness of fallen police officer Alex Murphy.
So basically…
RoboCop.
And I’m perfectly fine with that.
Because please, for the love of ED-209, don’t try to reinvent this.
Give me Alex Murphy. Give me corporate psychopaths. Give me a completely screwed-up near-future America. Give me brutal satire, ridiculous television commercials, corrupt executives, dark humor, and a RoboCop who moves like he’s a 400-pound walking tank instead of Iron Man.
Most importantly, understand what made Verhoeven’s movie so damn good in the first place.
RoboCop wasn’t great because a guy got turned into a robot.
Underneath all the bullets, blood and one-liners was a genuinely smart movie about corporate greed, privatization, consumerism, identity, humanity and what happens when corporations are allowed to own damn near everything—including you.
If Amazon understands that, I’m in.
Dan Stevens as Murphy?
I can see it.
But there’s one thing I’m going to need before I completely sign off on this…
I’d buy that for a dollar!
