Paramount is going into space, and they’re going to have a good time doing it. They’ve optioned a science fiction novella from acclaimed horror author Grady Hendrix with the unlikely title BadAsstronauts, and an even unlikelier premise. It’s a tale of a DIY space rescue that must be read to be believed.
According to reports, the film will be produced by Todd Garner (Mortal Kombat II) and Adam Goldworm (My Friend Dahmer), with Hendrix executive producing; no director or actors have yet been attached to the project. The novella tells the tale of Walter Reddie, a washout astrophysicist whose cousin gets stranded on the abandoned International Space Station. With no rescue mission on its way from any official space agency, Walter takes matters into his own hands, building his own spacecraft to rescue his cousin from the merciless vacuum of space. Pretty soon, he’s assembled a team of weirdos and wannabes who will be the first ever…BadAsstronauts. On his website, Hendrix describes the novel as hard science fiction…by which he means, “it’s fiction about science and I probably got most of it wrong because I can’t science no matter how hard I try.”
Who Is Grady Hendrix?
A native of Charleston, South Carolina, author Hendrix broke out with the novel Horrorstör, which centered around a haunted IKEA-like furniture store. He is reportedly the second-highest selling horror author in the world, after Stephen King. Several of his novels and short stories have been optioned for the screen, including Horrorstör, How to Sell a Haunted House, and The Final Girl Support Group. However, only one has made it to the screen so far: My Best Friend’s Exorcism, which starred Elsie Fisher and Amiah Miller, and was released by Prime Video in 2022. He also penned the screenplays for the horror films Mohawk and Satanic Panic.
However, there’s one Hendrix adaptation that won’t be seeing the light of day any time soon. HBO Max planned to adapt his novel The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires, and had The Righteous Gemstones‘ Danny McBride and Edi Patterson on board. However, it won’t be moving forward: after Gemstones wrapped earlier this year, McBride revealed, “We worked on it for a bit and we weren’t getting the reaction to it that we were wanting. It’s sort of floating out there right now.”
BadAsstronauts is in development at Paramount.
via Collider