City Of Bones, the first of Cassandra Clare’s The Mortal Instruments YA fantasy novels, made it to the big screen in 2013 via Screen Gems with Lily Collins as Clary Fray and Twilight star Jamie Campbell Bower as Jace Wayland. Unfortunately, what could have been the next Twilight or Hunger Games did poorly at the box office and was panned by critics.

Now, the property is being relaunched — but this time, as a television series, according to THR.

Constantin Film, which holds the rights to the novels and produced the original film, has hired Ed Decter (writer-producer on such project as Helix, Unforgettable, In Plain Sight, and The Client List) as showrunner for what’s being called a “high-end drama series.” While no broadcast partners are involved at this time, the project is in development with a planned production start scheduled for next year. No word yet on casting.

Fans of the book had complained about the film leaving out a lot of material, and it seems that Constantin head Martin Moszkowicz realized that that was a mistake, according to statements he made to THR.

According to the trade, the German-based Constantin is including The Mortal Instruments as part of their broader strategy to move into English-language television series, which includes possible TV adaptations of properties like period serial killer drama Perfume: The Story of a Murderer and the sci-fi horror franchise Resident Evil. (The company reportedly had poor luck with most of their film properties — like Pompeii and Tarzan — while doing well with their TV division.)

It will be interesting to see what network The Mortal Instruments television series will land, because that will be a big clue as to how it will be adapted. It’s based on a YA book series, so it could find a home somewhere like The CW network, but considering it’s supposed to be a high-end drama, it might be better off on Starz, ShowTime, or HB0. The new TV series will be a chance for Constantin to make it right with the fans.

[Source: THR]

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