Will there be a War of the Worlds series two?

HG Wells’ iconic novel never had a sequel, but could the BBC adaptation keep the story going?

Published: Sunday, 1 December 2019 at 10:00 pm

The BBC’s new adaptation of The War of the Worlds came to a close tonight, with beleaguered couple George and Amy (Rafe Spall and Eleanor Tomlinson) fighting back against the Martian invaders while, in the future, an older Amy worked hard to save the Earth from what the aliens left behind.

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At the episode’s close there’s a sense of hope as the Martians’ red weed begins to die off, Amy plans to fight for the future and there’s even a spark of blue behind the angry red clouds of Earth’s transformed sky. Blue skies are coming, indeed.

But does the story really need to end there? Or could the BBC keep the story going for another series?

“Yeah, you could,” series creator Peter Harness said at a recent Q and A session when asked if the BBC could do a follow-up.

“And I'm sure it would be a splendid thing to do. But I don't think I'll be doing that.”

In other words, no, it doesn’t seem likely that we’d get more Wells action from Harness. And apparently, he doesn’t even like the idea of following the series up with any other of the author’s acclaimed sci-fi works, instead hoping to work on original ideas from now on.

“I've made a stupid decision not to do any more adaptations, which I'm sure is going to be kind of torpedoed,” he told the crowd.

“I mean sci-fi and fantasy, horror and ghost stories are genres that I like working in. I just feel I've adapted a lot of other people's books now, and I want to go off and do some of my own rubbish.

“We'll see how that goes,” he laughed. “I'll see you in a couple of years...”

So, from the sounds of it, when it comes to The War of the Worlds all’s well that ends Wells. Like the onscreen Martian invasion, it was almost over before it started.

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All three episodes of The War of the Worlds are available to watch now on BBC iPlayer

Authors

Radio Times commissioning editor Huw Fullerton. He sits in front of a shelving unit, looking at the camera and smiling. He wears glasses and has a moustache

Huw FullertonCommissioning editor

Huw Fullerton is a commissioning editor for Radio Times magazine handling comedy, entertainment and specialist drama. In a previous regeneration, he covered all things sci-fi and fantasy for RadioTimes.com.

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