Liminal, Apple TV's upcoming film adaptation of the AWA graphic novel Telepaths by Eisner Award winner J. Michael Straczynski, Steve Epting and Brian Reber has wrapped filming.
The film will star Vanessa Kirby (Avengers: Doomsday, The Fantastic Four), Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (Wonder Man, Aquaman), Tom Pelphrey (HBO's Task, Iron Fist), Franka Potente (Dark Wings, The Bourne Supremacy), Tracy Letts (Ford v Ferrari, Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty), and Paul Sparks (Boardwalk Empire).
The upcoming movie will adapt a graphic novel where a small percentage of the world's population gains telepathic abilities.
The story focuses on a Boston police department tasked with tracking down a group of these recently-powered individuals that are led by a wrongly-convicted prisoner. The catch is that certain members of the Boston police department also have these new powers.
Telepaths was first published in 2021, and the science fiction comic book mini-series ran for 6 issues before being collected in a TPB format in 2022.
Louis Leterrier (The Incredible Hulk, Fast X) is directing the film for Apple. Liminal is written by Justin Rhodes (Terminator: Dark Fate)
When previously discussing the comic, Straczynski commented, "I've been fascinated by the concept of psionic abilities and telepathy since I was a kid. I always read books about it and not necessarily believing it's real, but looking at what the implications of it would be."
He continued, "I did a lot of stuff on telepaths in Babylon 5 in the 'Psi Corps' arc, and the fans loved that. That was also what led to, in a way, Sense8, where you have eight characters who can get through each other's minds and personalities and memories and skills and share bodies. I’ve always been fascinated by questions of privacy and what defines the self. And the fact that so often we are defined by our secrets, by the things that we don't tell anyone and what happens when suddenly all of that is out in the open and there's nowhere to hide."
Back in late 2018, ex-Marvel heavyweights Axel Alonso and Bill Jemas linked up with digital media bigwig Jonathan F. Miller to launch AWA Studios (short for Artists, Writers & Artisans)
The independent outfit has also formed an internal advisory group that includes J. Michael Straczynski (The Amazing Spider-Man, Babylon 5), writer-director Reginald Hudlin (House Party, Black Panther), and blockbuster filmmaker Joseph Kosinski (Top Gun: Maverick) to provide creative oversight.