By Suman Varandani - Microsoft's Xbox Entertainment Studios struck a deal with UK’s Channel 4 for an hour-long, eight-episode series called “Humans” that is based on a Swedish program, “Real Humans,” about humanoid robot workers, Channel 4 announced in a press release Monday.
Kudos Film and Television, a UK-based production company, will produce the show that will share a premiere broadcast window on both the Xbox platform in North America and on Channel 4 in the UK in 2015. The English-language adaptation of "Real Humans" will be written by the British writing team of Sam Vincent and Jonathan Brackley.
"Humans not only questions personal relationships, we loved how this sci-fi show toys with reality and our connection to technology," Nancy Tellem, president of Xbox Entertainment Studios, said in a statement.
Piers Wenger, Channel 4's head of drama programming, said: “In Humans, Sam and Jon have not only crafted an ingenious and imaginative thriller, but they’re also asking big, thought-provoking questions about how we live. I’m thrilled to be working once again with the team at Kudos and to be partnering with Xbox to bring this extraordinary and epic series to the screen.”
The distribution of “Humans” will be handled by Shine International and casting for the show will begin in May 2014.
According to reports, Microsoft now has at least six original series in production and more than a dozen in development. The studio previously announced a Halo television series, “Every Street United,” for which Steven Spielberg is the executive producer. Xbox's studio division will also produce a comedy sketch with Sarah Silverman and Michael Cera’s JASH comedy network, and broadcast the Bonnaroo music festival in July.