David Cronenberg appears to be on the verge of stealing John Carpenter’s title as the director with the most films currently lined up to be remade. Not only are updates of both Videodrome and The Fly in development (the latter of which will supposedly be directed by Cronenberg himself), but there was also talk of a Scanners remake a couple of years back. Darren Lynn Bousman (Saw II, Saw III) was attached to direct with comic adaptation machine David Goyer (Batman Begins) writing the script. Now this week we have learned that Dimension Films has decided to take the remake in a different direction: inspired by the success of AMC’s The Walking Dead, they are bringing it to the small screen instead. Bousman and Goyer is no longer involved, and instead they have Alexandre Aja (Piranha 3D) on board as executive producer.

Scanners revolves around a group of people with telepathic and telekinetic powers, some of which have started an underground movement to take over the world. They are able to control people’s minds, and even make their heads explode (an impressive special effect that the movie is probably best known for). Considering how gory the original film was, I’m assuming they would have to be aiming for something like HBO or Showtime as opposed to network TV with this.

Alexandre Aja may also direct the pilot episode, which is more than enough to get me interested. I can definitely see this working as a series, although I do worry that they could end up feeling a little too similar to something like V. It is interesting to note that Cronenberg’s The Dead Zone was also turned into a fairly successful TV series, so it won’t be the first time his work has been adapted for the small screen. What are your thoughts on a Scanners TV series?