FRANCO & KILGORE TO ADAPT STAR OF PERSIA FOR TELEVISION

As first reported on Deadline, Evan Kilgore and writing partner Samuel Franco have been tapped by Morris S. Levy's M.E.G.A. Films to adapt Jill Eileen Smith's bestselling historical-fiction novel, The Star of Persia, for television, supplementing the lavish narrative in the book with the duo's own meticulous research.

Star of Persia is inspired by the Old Testament's Book of Esther, following a brave peasant girl, Esther, who is enslaved by Persian King Xerxes, and forced to be a part of his harem. There, as she works to gain the trust and respect of the other women in the palace, she fights to become their protector and advocate. Now rising to wield great power as the King's favorite concubine, she discovers a deadly coup among his most trusted advisors. On the heels of his army's costly victory over the Spartans at the Battle of Thermopylae (as seen in Zack Snyder's 300), Esther must decide whether to expose and foil the plot, or become complicit in the downfall of an empire.

More details to come soon.