Warning! This article contains spoilers for The Eternaut.
One story beat in Netflix‘s new post-apocalyptic show seems eerily familiar, proving that a 69-year-old horror classic would work incredibly well as a TV reboot. While expanding its roster of English-language shows, Netflix has also been heavily investing in non-English TV series of diverse genres. One of these shows recently landed on the streaming platform and became an instant hit among viewers. Its early success also prompted Netflix to renew it for another season.
The new Netflix sci-fi show primarily succeeded because, instead of treading the same path as most mainstream post-apocalyptic movies and TV series, it dared to bring something new to the genre. Not all of its story beats are as compelling as the others, but the show proves to be an entertaining watch overall, encouraging a viewer to return for more. Interestingly, the new Netflix series has a subplot that seems reminiscent of the storyline from a 69-year-old horror classic. Its portrayal of the subplot makes it hard not to believe that the horror classic deserves a TV reboot after all these years.
After Watching The Eternaut, It Is Hard Not To Imagine An Invasion Of The Body Snatchers TV Reboot
The Eternaut’s Main Story Beat Riffs On The “Body Snatcher” Trope
In its early moments, Netflix’s The Eternaut seems similar to most post-apocalyptic thrillers as it walks through a mysterious world-ending event that wipes out a massive chunk of the human population in its fictional world. It shows how toxic snow falls from the sky and kills anyone who comes in contact with it. However, once that is out of the way, it soon delivers a play on the “body snatchers” alien invasion trope by revealing that many surviving humans are being mind-controlled by aliens.
The Eternaut season 1’s intentionally half-baked exploration of the body-snatching trope proves that Invasion of the Body Snatchers‘ core alien invasion concept can be expanded into a full-fledged series.
Although The Eternaut does not delve too deeply into how aliens achieve this feat, it hints that the aliens are manipulating humans by installing a mind-control device in their heads. This story beat in the series seems similar to what happens in Invasion of the Body Snatchers. The Eternaut season 1’s intentionally half-baked exploration of the body-snatching trope proves that Invasion of the Body Snatchers‘ core alien invasion concept can be expanded into a full-fledged series.
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The Eternaut’s Aliens Explained
While adopting some existing tropes surrounding aliens in sci-fi, The Eternaut manages to give its alien characters a unique and abstract identity.
The original movie and some of its follow-ups do a great job of establishing and refining the original lore introduced in Jack Finney’s 1954 science-fiction novel The Body Snatchers. However, after watching The Eternaut, one can see how the narrative from the original novel and the movie adaptations can easily be translated to a serialized format to further explore its themes of post-war tensions and technophobia. Interestingly, even though the Jack Finney novel has been adapted multiple times for the big screen, a fourth adaptation of its sci-fi ideas is already underway.
Invasion Of The Body Snatchers’ Next Reboot Is Already In Development
Warner Bros Has Been Working On A Remake For Quite Some Time
In 2017, it was confirmed that Warner Bros. was working on another remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Although most details surrounding the project still remain under wraps, screenwriter David Leslie Johnson (of the Orphan and The Conjuring 2 fame) was taken on board to pen it. Since there have been no new updates surrounding the remake since 2017, its future remains uncertain. However, Warner Bros. might still have time to draw inspiration from Netflix‘s The Eternaut and turn the original Jack Finney story into a full-fledged TV series.
