This news is a couple of months old, but I completely missed it when it dropped... Fans of comic book series Chew will be disappointed to hear that plans for a live-action Showtime series have fallen through. It's not happening: Showtime's Proposed "Chew" Television Adaptation Is Officially Dead.
For those unfamiliar with the series, Chew follows the exploits of Tony Chu, a detective for the FDA, who has the bizarre ability to get a psychic impression from anything that he eats. Yes, that means taking a bite out of a dead body to solve a murder. It's a fun book that centers of an Asian American protagonist, which we like. It would have been pretty cool to see the live action version on Showtime series.
However, Chew writer/co-creator John Lyman broke this bad news back in February via Twitter:
There will not be a CHEW TV series on Showtime.
— Layman (@themightylayman) February 1, 2013
Damn. So that door is closed, but it doesn't mean we won't eventually see a Chew series. In a recent interview, Layman says that there are contingent plans for a Chew show to take shape in some form:
HC: You’ve said Showtime isn’t happening for “Chew,” but are there contingent plans?Here's hoping. For more information on Chew, visit the official website.
JL: We had a writer, Brian Duffield, we have a director, Stephen Hopkins, who’s done a lot of Showtime stuff. And then we’ve got a half-hour and an hour script. We have all that stuff back from Showtime. They’re shopping it around…. And Rob and I are both very focused on “Chew”…. We’re just going to let Hollywood do its thing. If nothing happens by the time “Chew” 60 is out and we’re unemployed, then we take control and Kickstart a cartoon. We just can’t do it right now. So you’ve got 25 issues, Hollywood, to make a TV show, or we’re going to do it ourselves.