ROBOCOP TV Series Casts Dan Stevens as Its New Half-Man, Half-Machine Hero
Dead or alive, Dan Stevens is about to become RoboCop.
Stevens has landed the title role in Amazon Prime Video’s upcoming RoboCop TV series, bringing a new version of the iconic cybernetic lawman to the screen.
Prime Video has ordered eight episodes of the series, which was officially announced in July after spending years in development following Amazon’s acquisition of MGM in 2022.
The series will put its own spin on the familiar RoboCop concept while keeping the central idea that made the original movie so awesome.
The official logline reads: “A giant tech conglomerate convinces the city to place a powerful robot on its police force – a robot implanted with the consciousness of a beloved, fallen officer (Stevens).”
Stevens is a great choice for the role, especially considering the wonderfully strange collection of characters he’s played over the years. He first gained widespread attention playing Matthew Crawley in Downton Abbey, then went in a completely different direction with FX’s mind-bending Legion.
His television credits also include Solar Opposites, Zero Day, and the upcoming third season of The Terror. Stevens is also joining Season 2 of Dexter: Resurrection as a series regular.
On the movie side, Stevens recently appeared in Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, where he played the monster veterinarian Trapper. His other films include Beauty and the Beast, and Cuckoo.
Stevens has shown that he can jump between drama, comedy, horror, action, and some seriously strange material, which could make him a great fit for RoboCop.
This franchise works best when the brutal action comes packaged with sharp corporate satire and a little absurdity, so it’ll be fun to see what kind of personality Stevens brings to the character.
Peter Ocko is writing, executive producing, and serving as showrunner on the series. James Wan, Michael Clear, and Rob Hackett are executive producing through Blumhouse Atomic Monster.
There’s also some important RoboCop DNA involved in the production. Michael Miner and Ed Neumeier, who co-created and co-wrote the original movie, are executive producers on the new series.
Danielle Bozzone of Blumhouse Atomic Monster will co-executive produce and oversee the project for the company. Amazon MGM Studios is producing.
The RoboCop franchise began with Paul Verhoeven’s 1987 sci-fi classic starring Peter Weller as Alex Murphy, a murdered Detroit police officer resurrected as the heavily armored RoboCop. The movie became a genre favorite thanks to its mix of ultra-violent action, dark comedy, social commentary, and corporate satire.
Weller returned for RoboCop 2 in 1990 before Robert Burke stepped into the armor for RoboCop 3 in 1993. Nancy Allen appeared throughout the original trilogy as Officer Anne Lewis.
The franchise eventually returned to theaters in 2014 with a RoboCop reboot starring Joel Kinnaman. RoboCop has also had a long life outside the movies, including two animated shows, two live-action TV series, comic books, and video games.
Now Amazon MGM Studios is taking another shot at the property with Stevens wearing the badge. There’s plenty of potential here.
RoboCop remains one of those sci-fi characters who can deliver badass action while also poking holes in corporate greed, technology, privatization, policing, and the people who believe every human problem can be solved by putting more machinery into it.
The big question is what kind of RoboCop series Amazon is making. I hope it embraces the biting satire, dark humor, violence, and humanity that made the 1987 movie work so well.