Lost Media Idea Wiki
Lost Media Idea Wiki

The Xeelee Sequence is a series of hard sci-fi novels written by British sci-fi author Stephen Baxter. It tells the story of the extremely powerful civilization called the Xeelee and their cosmo spanning war aganist other Alien species. The series has become a beloved cult classic among readers, with an attempt by director James Cameron having been made in 2001 to adapt the series into a film, specifically its second novel Timelike Infinity.

It was scheduled to release sometime in early 2004 and even had a trilogy and a cinematic universe planned for it. However, the attempt to adapt the novel was not successful. It didn't go far into development and the screenplay was the only thing that came from the adaption.

Plot[]

Into this new dark age appears the end of a tunnel through time. Made from exotic matter, it is humanity's greatest engineering project in the pre-Qax era, where the other end of the tunnel remains anchored near Jupiter. When a small group of humans in a makeshift craft outwit the Qax to escape to the past through the tunnel, it is not to warn the people of Earth against the Qax, who are sure to follow them. For these men and women from the future are themselves dangerous fanatics in pursuit of their own bizarre quantum grail.

Background[]

In 2001, Cameron, who was producing the documentary Expedition: Bismarck at the time[1], had planned a Xeelee Sequence film trilogy after being amazed by Baxter's novels and its storytelling. He had written a screenplay adaptation of Timelike Infinity with the intention of directing it. Actor Joaquin Phoenix was tentatively attached to play one of the protagonists of the novel. Apparently Cameron had also planned making the other two films for the trilogy called Xeelee Sequence 2: The Reality Dust and Xeelee Sequence 3: The Ring, which would start a "Xeelee Cinematic Universe" as planned by Cameron.

The adaption never moved beyond pre-production stage, as it was cancelled quickly by Cameron after he realised that his dreams of making a Xeelee Sequence trilogy and cinematic universe would be too difficult and complex to adapt at the time. Only the screenplay was finished and no production material was made for it. When asked about the film's status in an interview several years after it had been announced, Cameron said:

The days of making that movie is over as it's too good to be true to have a movie based on a Xeelee Sequence novel. It would be a gigantic achievement if i have the strength to make it through pre-production and have fought its complexity and complications.


Availability[]

After its cancellation, the screenplay would become lost, as Cameron doesn't remember where he kept it. It is unknown if any screenplay were written and production material were made for the other two films. As of 2025, the screenplay remains completely lost and it's whereabouts are unknown.

References[]