Ridley Scott options The Forever War

It would appear that Brave New World has some serious competition for the title of Ridley Scott’s next sci-fi project. The director has just reclaimed the rights to make a movie based on Joe Haldeman’s 1974 novel The Forever War.

Haldeman’s book finds a soldier battling an enemy in deep space for just a few months, only to return to an unrecognizable Earth that has moved on 20 years.

“I first pursued Forever War 25 years ago, and the book has only grown more timely and relevant since," Scott tells Variety . "It’s a science-fiction epic, a bit of The Odyssey by way of Blade Runner, built upon a brilliant, disorienting premise.”

Different Plans

Scott isn’t the only person who has pursued the book – special effects guru Richard Edlund nabbed the rights just after it was published back in the ‘70s, splashed $400,000 on it and planned to make it his directorial debut.

But despite having the clout of two Oscars (including one for the effects in Raiders Of The Lost Ark), he’s never been able to get it going, even as a miniseries for US TV network Sci-Fi Channel.

Fox 2000 has now stepped in to buy up all the rights with Scott planning the film as a front-runner for his own directing slate. It needs a script first, so expect it to hit his schedule after Nottingham and perhaps one of his other many developing projects.