Time Traveler’s Wife Series from Steven Moffat Ordered by HBO

HBO has given a series order for The Time Traveler’s Wife, adapted by Emmy winner Steven Moffat (Sherlock, Doctor Who) from the Audrey Niffenegger novel. An intricate and magical love story, the series tells the story of Clare and Henry and a marriage with a problem… time travel.

The beloved story follows Henry DeTamble, an adventuresome librarian who travels involuntarily through time, and Clare Abshire, an artist whose life takes a natural sequential course. The couple’s passionate love affair endures across a sea of time and captures them in an impossibly romantic trap.

“I read Audrey Niffenegger’s The Time Traveler’s Wife many years ago, and I fell in love with it. In fact, I wrote a Doctor Who episode called The Girl In The Fireplace as a direct response to it. When, in her next novel, Audrey had a character watching that very episode, I realized she was probably on to me. All these years later, the chance to adapt the novel itself, is a dream come true. The brave new world of long-form television is now ready for this kind of depth and complexity. It’s a story of happy ever after — but not necessarily in that order,” said Moffat.

HBO’s programming president Casey Bloys added: “We are thrilled to be partnering with Steven Moffat, Hartswood, and WBTV on The Time Traveler’s Wife. Steven’s passion is evident in every project he’s written and we are certain that his love and respect for this mesmerizing and textured novel will make it a quintessential HBO series.”

The Time Traveler’s Wife was previously adapted for the big screen in 2009. The movie, directed by Robert Schwentke and written by Bruce Joel Rubin, starred Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams. In the film, Bana stars as Henry, a Chicago librarian who suffers from a rare genetic disorder that causes him to move involuntarily through time. He ends up marrying Clare (McAdams), but their relationship is complicated thanks to Henry’s inability to remain in the same time and place as his wife.

Moffat will write and executive produce the series for HBO, alongside executive producers Sue Vertue and Brian Minchin with Hartswood Films in Association with Warner Bros. Television producing.