The Andromeda Strain Returns

Posted on May 15, 2008

Ridley and Tony Scott have teamed up to scare the hell out of us once again with the sf classic, The Andromeda Strain. Based on the bestselling novel by Michael Crichton, the television movie will be directed by two-time Academy Award nominee Mikael Saloman (Backdraft, The Abyss) and will star Benjamin Bratt, Eric McCormack, Ricky Schroder, Christa Miller and Daniel Dae Kim (Lost). The telefilm will be aired in Hi Def on Memorial Day, May 26th and May 27th at 9pm Eastern time on A&E.

We read The Andromeda Strain when it came out and found it absolutely terrifying. The movie they made was also pretty scary. But now they've Ridley and Tony Scott re-doing the project, so you know it will be great. If somehow you missed the book, first movie -- or the awesome trailer they're running in theaters before Iron Man, here's the synopsis:

A U.S. military satellite crashes in a small town and unleashes a deadly plague killing all but two survivors. As the military quarantines the area, a team of highly specialized scientists is assembled to find a cure to the pathogen code-named "Andromeda," and a reporter investigates a government conspiracy only to discover what he is chasing wants him silenced.

The virus itself is horrifying: it works super fast and does terrible things to its hosts. We'll be tuning in.