Cynthia Ervio and Michael Bay are to collaborate on a movie adaptation of Saturation Point.
The 38-year-old actress has teamed up with the Transformers director, 60, for a film version of author Adrian Tchaikovsky’s 2024 sci-fi novel of the same name for Universal Pictures.
Erivo will be producing under her Edith’s Daughter banner alongside Solome Williams, while Bay and Brad Fuller will produce through Platinum Dunes.
Saturation Point is a gripping climate thriller set in a future where parts of Earth have become so hot and humid that human survival is nearly impossible.
When a mission goes into one of these extreme zones, Dr. Jasmine Marks is tasked with leading the high-stakes search and rescue effort.
But the deeper she ventures, the more she realises the dangers are far greater than expected – and her corporate employers may be hiding the truth. To make matters worse, not all intelligent life in the zone is human.
Minnie Schedeen is set to write the script for Saturation Point alongside Tchaikovsky, while Alex Ginno is due to executive produce for Platinum Dunes.
Erivo was last seen in the 2024 movie adaptation of the beloved Broadway musical Wicked, in which she starred as Elphaba.
In the film, Elphaba (Erivo) forms an unlikely friendship with Glinda (Ariana Grande) and the pair travel to the Emerald City to meet with the Wizard of Oz (Jeff Goldblum), only to discover he is hiding a dark secret.
Erivo, Grande and Goldblum are set to reprise their respective roles in the upcoming sequel Wicked: For Good, which will adapt the second half of the Broadway musical.
Director Jon M. Chu recently teased Wicked: For Good would focus and expand on the bond between Elphaba and Glinda.
He told Vanity Fair: “I think the meat of what Wicked is all about happens in movie two. To me, this is why this story exists. This is where our childhood dreams collide with our adult selves.”
The Crazy Rich Asians filmmaker added “the temperature is up” for Elphaba and Glinda, whose relationship is pushed to its breaking point thanks to the actions of the Wizard.
Chu said: “Our heart was broken when Glinda can’t make the choice that we want her to so badly at the end of movie one, and it feels empowering for Elphaba to fly away from society.
“In movie two, we get to see the consequences of those choices. The temperature is up.”
Wicked: For Good is also set to introduce Dorothy Gale – famously portrayed by Judy Garland in 1939’s The Wizard of Oz – though Chu stressed he had been “delicate” with the character.
Speaking about Dorothy and her crew’s journey down the Yellow Brick Road, he explained: “That intersection is the place that we were first introduced to Oz.
“We tread lightly, but try to make more sense of how it impacts our girls and our characters than maybe the show does.”
