Aquarius Films has acquired the production rights to ramp up The Subjugate, a new sci-fi thriller series, and will develop and produce a long-form sci-fi series in partnership with Anonymous Content. Tin Duck Award-winning author Amanda Bridgeman penned the original novel publication from Angry Robot Books publication as the first in a trilogy of novels, following suit last October with acclaimed sequel novel, “The Sensation”.The Subjugate takes place in 2040, when a series of murders sends shockwaves through the religious community of Bountiful, that has turned its back on technology and the modern world. The obvious suspects are The Subjugates, violent offenders who are transformed into town servants, known as Serenes at the Solme Complex. Sent from the city to investigate the crimes, two homicide detectives are met with open hostility. In a town where purity and sin, temptation and repression live side by side, everyone has a motive. But as the bodies mount up, the frustrated detectives begin to crack under the pressure. As their mutual mistrust builds, they set out on parallel investigations, which finally collide at the Complex – where they discover the distressing truth about the treatments taking place there.Update on the new television series comes after two years of positive buzz since the book’s launch, which gives the series plenty of momentum to build off of. Technothriller author and USA Today bestseller, Nathan M. Farrugia, described the book as “The Wire meets Blade Runner in an enthralling near-future crime thriller”; The Guardian said it was “a compelling seat-of-the-pants murder mystery and a fascinating inquiry into good and evil and the possibility of redemption”.Angie Fielder and Polly Staniford are producing the series for Aquarius Films, joined by Anonymous Content’s Luke Rivett and Ryan Cunningham.“The Subjugate explores topical themes of rehabilitation, recidivism and advancing technology in a captivating near-future science fiction thriller and is perfect raw material for a compelling TV series.” said Fielder and Staniford in a statement. “We’ve always been huge fans of the work that Anonymous Content produce and are thrilled to be partnering with Luke and Ryan to bring to life the rich and complex world that Amanda Bridgeman has created in her novels.”Rivett and Cunningham add: “Amanda has created an incredibly complex world that examines the bonds between good and evil and what happens when the lines between the two are blurred. We are thrilled to collaborate with Angie, Polly, and the Aquarius team to bring Amanda’s novel to life on screen.”Fielder is an Academy Award-nominated producer known for Lion starring Nicole Kidman, Dev Patel, and Rooney Mara. Staniford produced Vertical Entertainment’s Berlin Syndrome starring Teresa Palmer, directed by Cate Shortland (Marvel’s Black Widow). Recent Anonymous Content produced series include the Peabody Award winning series Dickinson which recently debuted its second season, Golden Globe nominated limited series Catch-22 directed by George Clooney, as well as the recently released series Paradise Lost, Home Before Dark, which just wrapped filming on its second season, and Defending Jacob starring Chris Evans and Michelle Dockery.Among her achievements, Bridgeman is also an Aurealis and Ditmar Awards finalist, and the author of several science fiction novels, including the bestselling space opera/military SF “Aurora” series, and alien contact drama “The Time of the Stripes”. She was a finalist in the Universal AU/Screenwest Pitch competition and a finalist in the AACTA Regional Landscapes Pitch in partnership with Screenworks Pitch. Her upcoming novel “Pandemic: Patient Zero” will be the first novel set in the award-winning Pandemic tabletop board game universe. Bridgeman is currently working on the third and final novel in the trilogy.