Netflix orders sci-fi about downloadable minds from Shutter Island writer

The ten episode series will be based on 2002 novel Altered Carbon

Streaming giants Netflix have yet another TV show to add to their ever-expanding slate, this one from the screenwriter of Shutter Island.

Variety reports that the series - based on Richard K. Morgan's novel Altered Carbon - is bypassing the standard pilot treatment, instead receiving an immediate order of ten episodes

The sci-fi story is set in the 25th century at a time where human minds and souls are transferable from one person to the next.

The protagonist is Takeshi Kovacs, a former interstellar warrior turned prisoner who is downloaded into a future he once attempted to prevent; tasked with solving a murder in a time where technology has rendered crime near obsolete, if successful, Kovacs could be granted a new life on Earth.

Laeta Kalogridis will serve as writer, producer and showrunner; her previous writing credits include the Martin Scorsese-directed psychological thriller Shutter Island (2010), which she adapted from the Dennis Lehane novel, and action film White House Down (2013).

Netflix recently announced it would spend over six billion on original programming throughout the next few years, with stalwart shows House of Cards and Orange is the New Black both returning alongside debut seasons of Baz Luhrmann's The Get Down and horror series Stranger Things, which will star Winona Ryder.

There is currently no release date for Altered Carbon.