Most movies don’t need a prequel series to accompany it, but in this case, it just might work.
John Boyega has signed on to The Book of Eli prequel, where he will play a younger version of Denzel Washington’s Eli. The original creative team behind the 2010 post-apocalypse movie is getting back together to develop the series, with Boyega stepping in as an executive producer.
If you need a refresher, The Book of Eli takes place 30 years after a nuclear catastrophe caused an ecocide. Eli (Washington) is a nomad who fights his way across a torn-apart, post-apocalyptic America while protecting a mysterious sacred book that holds the secrets to humanity’s salvation. (Spoiler alert: It’s the Bible.) Also, Eli is blind and the book is written in Braille, making him the sole protector of God’s Word.
For now, details about the TV series are being kept hush hush, but Deadline reports that the prequel will be set 30 years prior to the events in the film, putting it around the time of the nuclear event or at least its immediate aftermath. This means we’ll finally see how the Bible — the most printed book of all time — ended up becoming a Braille-only limited edition, and how Eli became a post-apocalyptic disciple.
