Back in 1956, director Fred M. Wilcox and writers Cyril Hume, Irving Block, and Allen Adler brought the world one of the most popular science fiction films ever made, Forbidden Planet, which earned an Oscar nomination for its special effects and, in 2013, was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, as the film is regarded as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” Of course, there have been rumblings of a remake for a long time. Fifteen years ago, there was even some talk about James Cameron directing the remake, and Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski was working on the screenplay. That take on the concept never made it into production, but now Deadline reports that Hugo and Eisner Award-winning comic book writer and screenwriter Brian K. Vaughan, who created the comics Y: The Last Man and Runaways and worked on the TV shows Lost and Under the Dome, is writing a new screenplay for a Forbidden Planet remake.

The project is set up at Warner Bros., with Emma Watts producing. According to Deadline, Forbidden Planet remake hopes have previously been held back by rights issues, but apparently Warner Bros. and Watts have figured out how to overcome those issues.

Loosely based on Shakepeare’s The Tempest, Forbidden Planet is set in the 23rd century, where the starship C-57D arrives at the distant planet Altair IV to solve the mystery of what happened to another starship sent 20 years prior. One of that original ship’s scientists, Dr. Edward Morbius (played by Walter Pidgeon), warns them not to land for safety reasons, but C-57D does so anyway. Their rescue attempts are hampered by a creature that begins killing members of the crew. The ship’s commander John J. Adams (Leslie Nielsen, back when he exclusively did serious roles) unravels a mystery that involves a relic from a long perished race that heightens intellect and does much worse. The film also starred Anne Francis as the wife of Morbius; a major character in the film is Robby the Robot, the first in a sci-fi film that didn’t come off like a cheap tin can, and began the trek of AI-fueled robots that became staples of major sci-fi films to follow.

Years ago, Straczynski said that his approach to the material was to make something that was “not a remake, not a reimagining, not exactly a prequel.” There might have even been trilogy plans in place. There’s no word on what sort of approach Vaughan will be taking.

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