FOX orders pilot for ‘Delirium’ book trilogy

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Take a look at the bookshelves in the Young Adult section of your local bookstores. You will see titles like The Mortal Instruments, The Vampire Diaries, Hunger Games and Divergent. Movie and TV studios have flocked to these supernatural/dystopian books for the next big thing. It’s no wonder that FOX has jumped on the bandwagon by adding a pilot inspired by the Delirium book trilogy to a future TV lineup.

According to TVLine, the pilot has been penned by Karyn Usher (Prison Break) with Peter Chernin and Katherine Pope signing on as executive producers. In the Delirium book series, published by Harper Teen,  the government requires that all teenagers be cured of love, a.k.a. deliria, to keep society safe. But 95 days before her treatment, Lena Haloway falls for a boy–and must face the truth about her own feelings and the world in which she lives. The series also includes Pandemonium and the soon to be released Requiem, set to hit shelves in March 2013.

Author Lauren Oliver shared the big news on Tumblr today. “The deal is that Fox, which initially optioned the books for film, decided that due to the complexity of all the side plots and characters, the Delirium series might be better suited for TV, as we’d have a chance to explore all of those elements,” she said. “I am super psyched because that has always been my preference (for those of you that have read some of my interviews, you know that I LOVE anything that can be done while in pajamas, such as writing and watching television!) We’ve been assembling all the moving parts to make that happen over the past few months.”

With the news exciting the fanbase, there was some speculation as to if the series will follow the book. Many fans I talked to about the news last night feared the writers would take liberties like we’ve seen on shows like Vampire Diaries and True Blood. Here’s what Lauren had to say. “I know that some of you are concerned that a TV show will be “untrue” to the books, due to the need to add content in order to flesh out the story to a full season. Never fear! Look, the books will always be the books. No adaptation, either for film or TV, will or can completely replicate and remain faithful to them—it’s a totally different art form! I like to think of this as a new riff, a new interpretation of the story I’ve written. TV, more so than novel writing, is a collaborative art form (although there is plenty of collaboration between me and my editor!). The talented people writing the DELIRIUM TV show aren’t trying to take anything away from the story, their goal is to add and expand, and give us all more time with the characters that we love. The wonderful thing about an expansive medium like television is that there is the time and space to explore smaller elements of the story and the world that would have detracted from the momentum of a novel.”

There’s no word to when the show will air or who is being looked at to play the main protagonist. Who would you like to see in the roles of the main characters in this series? Do you have any favorites? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.