EXCLUSIVE: Sam Okun Productions has acquired Dark Side of the Moon: Wernher von Braun, the Third Reich and the Space Race, a historical work by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Wayne Biddle, for development as an ongoing one-hour drama series, Deadline has learned.
The Dark Side of the Moon Trailer
Based on true stories, along with additional source material from the book, the series follows a rebellious MIT graduate who breaks glass ceilings to join NASA, where she becomes a rising star under the mentorship of Wernher von Braun, mastermind of the American space program. But as she navigates the turbulent sexual, social, and political landscape of the 1960s and the Cold War, her dream turns into a nightmare when she discovers von Braun’s dark past.
The series is described as character-driven, with two intertwining timelines, and tonally somewhere between Lessons in Chemistry and Oppenheimer.
Bosch’s Daniel Pyne will serve as showrunner and executive producer, along with writer-producer Michael Esser, who brought the project to Sam Okun Productions after attempting to craft a feature film based on the materials. Alive Entertainment’s Philip von Alvensleben and Okun will also executive produce, with Sam Okun Productions VP Christian Jean serving as co-EP. German production company Prodco ndF (neue deutsche Filmgesellschaft) is on board as a co-production partner.
