Even After One Failed Attempt, This Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi Thriller Deserves A Proper Adaptation
Stories adapted from popular novels form the backbone of entertainment media, but the way The Passage was adapted demands that the story get another chance to be told properly. In 2019, Fox released the first season of The Passage. The story is adapted from the Justin Cronin novel of the same name, which serves as the beginning of a fantasy series that blends horror, supernatural, and sci-fi.
While Fox did well in terms of casting the two leading characters, a young girl named Amy Bellafonte, and a federal agent named Brad Wolgast, the story did diverge somewhat from the novels. As a result, the show didn’t last, and it left fans of both the series and the original novels yearning for a proper adaptation.
Fox’s Adaptation Of Justin Cronin’s The Passage Lasted Only One Season
Unfortunately, The Passage was canceled after the premiere season, meaning the story never got a chance to develop. This first season set up the story, meaning that over 10 episodes, it covered only about a quarter of the first novel.
Unfortunately, the novels also unravel time in a unique way, which meant the series’ pacing was much slower, and it failed to get into the meat of the story quickly enough. But that wasn’t the only thing that led to the show’s downfall at such an early stage.
What Went Wrong With Fox’s The Passage
Sci-fi tends to be among the most expensive genres to adapt for both film and TV. While The Passage was initially intended to be adapted into a film format, which may have been a better move for the franchise, it was ultimately adapted into a series, which still ended up costing a hefty amount to fully realize.
With a high investment going in, Fox and other investors had high expectations for the show’s performance, and when the viewership began declining, before an all-time low for the finale, the decision to axe the series was set in stone. But the foundations had so much potential that The Passage is sorely in need of another adaptation.
Why The Passage Deserves Another TV Adaptation
The 2019 adaptation of The Passage did a good job of laying the groundwork for the story, but when the final episode suddenly shifted time, it felt jarring and out of place. The novels actually play with time skips a lot, bouncing between the origin of the outbreak, nearly a century later, and then 1000 years on.
In fact, most of the story takes place in the future, which the Fox series never got around to adapting. Another TV adaptation, starting fresh and incorporating the time skips from the start, would hopefully give The Passage room to grow and deliver a compelling story worthy of the novels upon which it was based.
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