Carnival meets Soule’s Anyone

Downton Abbey producer Carnival Films has acquired the rights to the second highly anticipated novel by New York Times bestselling novelist and comic book writer Charles Soule.

Gareth Neame

The NBCUniversal International Studios-owned firm will adapt Anyone for television, with Soule writing the adaptation and executive producing alongside Carnival’s Gareth Neame, Nigel Marchant and Joanna Strevens.

The novel, which will be published by Harper Perennial in December, centres on a brilliant female scientist who, when searching for an Alzheimer’s cure, throws a switch and creates a technology that allows for the transfer of human consciousness between bodies. Two decades later, the technology transforms society from entertainment and travel to warfare, wreaking havoc across the world.

Marchant said: “Charles has created a rich and thought-provoking world of infinite possibility and explored it with the greatest of humanity. We thoroughly look forward to working with him to bring this magnificent novel to screen.”

Soule added: “Anyone is a story about having, losing and seeking identity and connection. I think its themes will resonate strongly in today’s world, and I am thrilled and proud to be working with Carnival to bring the novel to television.”

It follows a similar deal for the rights to forthcoming novel The Second Sleep by author Robert Harris (Fatherland, The Ghost), signed in July.