Image Credit/Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic for HBO/USF
The limited series is inspired by a UFO incident in the U.K. in 1980.
Laurence Fishburne is headed across the Atlantic for a UFO encounter.
The Emmy-winning actor and producer (Black-ish, Miss Evers' Boys) has signed on to star in and executive produce Rendlesham, a limited series from British company Eleventh Hour Films (Foyle's War) and Sony Pictures Television.
No outlet on either side of the pond is attached yet. Sony is handling international distribution.
Rendlesham is inspired by reported UFO sightings near an airbase in Suffolk, England, in 1980. The eight-part series, planned as an anthology, will move back and forth between the time of the incident and the present.
Fishburne will play the lead role of Tyrone, a retired U.S. airman who was stationed at the base during the Cold War. When he and his family return to England to visit his wife's dying father, he's forced to confront events that have haunted him for 40 years.
"I'm beyond thrilled this phenomenal and iconic actor will be leading Rendlesham as Tyrone and facing down one of the most notorious UFO mysteries in history," said series creator Joe Ahearne (Doctor Who).
Fishburne and his partner in Cinema Gypsy Productions, Helen Sugland, will executive produce the series along with Ahearne (who's also directing) and Eve Gutierrez and Jill Green of Eleventh Hour Films.
Fishburne is repped by Paradigm, Landmark Artists and Del Shaw.
Rendlesham background:
Several people in the village’s small forest including a number of air force servicemen claimed to witness a glowing object in the sky before it flew off into the trees. The sighting was recorded by Lieutenant Colonel Charles Halt in an official report that was made public in 1983 but was subsequently rubbished by other officers, leading to many conspiracy theories.
The series is the latest effort to bring the search for extraterrestrial life and the question of “are we alone?” to television, though it sounds far less conspiratorial in tone than, say, The X-Files or even History’s upcoming Project Blue Book.
Here's Altitude Films UK trailer which is a look at the Rendlesham Forest UFO incident, it's actually pretty good. This was posted to YouTube in 2015.
