Disney+ Has Ordered a Spaceship Earth Pilot, a Teen Time Travel Story Inspired by the EPCOT Ride, With Loki's Michael Waldron Producing

The ride inside EPCOT's geodesic sphere is getting a television tryout.

Disney+ has ordered a pilot for a show called "Spaceship Earth," which takes its name and its inspiration from the attraction that lives inside that sphere. The trades broke it Thursday. WDW News Today and Blog Mickey credit Variety, while WDWMagic credits The Hollywood Reporter. Casting is already underway.

The attraction entrance under the sphere. The pilot shares the ride's name and its time travel idea. Image: WDWMagic.

Who is making it

The pilot script is Jason Fuchs' work, and he will also be showrunner and executive producer. Fuchs co-created the HBO Max series "IT: Welcome to Derry" and is a co-showrunner on it, and he also wrote "Argylle," "Wonder Woman" and "Ice Age: Continental Drift."

Michael Waldron, best known for his Marvel Cinematic Universe work, executive produces. Waldron wrote the screenplay for "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness," developed the Disney+ Marvel series "Loki," and is a co-writer on "Avengers: Doomsday." His non-Marvel resume includes "Heels," the wrestling drama he created for Starz, the Hulu series "Chad Powers," which he co-created, and "Rick and Morty," which he wrote for.

Lee Toland Krieger ("You," "Riverdale," "Shadow & Bone") executive produces and directs the pilot. Also executive producing are Adam Fishbach ("Love, Victor," "The Other Black Girl") and Adam Fasullo, Waldron's Anomaly Pictures partner. Per WDW News Today, 20th Television will produce.

The logline

One sentence of story has been released, and it is not a gentle trip through the history of communication:

"When a mission to avert an imminent global cataclysm goes awry, a small band of teenagers from Earth's past and future must join forces to confront a threat as vast and mysterious as time itself."

WDWMagic frames the show as building out from what the attraction is about, a journey through time that traces human progress, and using that as where the story begins. There is no indication yet of how much of the actual attraction, if any, turns up on screen.

Disney keeps mining its own queues

Disney has been turning its rides into films and shows for years, and a "Spaceship Earth" series would be the newest entry. "Pirates of the Caribbean" is still the benchmark, with a film franchise Blog Mickey says has grossed over $4.5 billion worldwide. "Haunted Mansion" has inspired several movies and specials, the Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt "Jungle Cruise" arrived in 2021, and a "Big Thunder Mountain Railroad" movie is in development.

Fuchs has been here before. Per WDWMagic, he scripted an ABC pilot back in 2013 titled "Big Thunder," drawn from that same ride.

A low angle on the underside of the sphere, shot from the lawn at its base. Image: WDWMagic.

What we do not know

Quite a lot. A pilot order is not a series order, and Disney has stalled out here before. Blog Mickey notes an earlier plan for an interconnected Magic Kingdom television universe, meant to start with a "Society of Explorers and Adventurers" series from Ronald D. Moore, that never moved forward.

For now there is no announced cast, no premiere window and no series commitment. The ride has stood at the front of EPCOT since the park opened in 1982, so it can afford to wait.

Sources

• WDW News Today, "TV Series Based on EPCOT's Spaceship Earth Gets Disney+ Pilot Order"
• Blog Mickey, "Disney+ Orders 'Spaceship Earth' Pilot, Casting Underway"
• WDWMagic, "Disney+ Greenlights Pilot for Spaceship Earth, Inspired by EPCOT Ride"

Image credits: Featured image by Blog Mickey. Article photos by WDWMagic, credited in each caption.