MTV has picked up a new contemporary drama series War of the Worlds, based on the H.G. Wells classic sci-fi novel. Former Teen Wolf writer Andrew Cochran is behind the script, with Teen Wolf creator Jeff Davis executive producing alongside The Firm's Josh Barry and Jeff Kwatinetz. No plot details were given as to how this series will be different from the dozens of other adaptations of this classic story.

Deadline reports that The Firm's Josh Barry is the grandson of Gene Barry, who starred in the first War of the Worlds theatrical adaptation back in 1953. The original book was written in 1898, but the 1938 radio adaptation by Orson Welles made the book even more popular. The radio play was originally broadcast as a series of radio bulletins, which listeners believed to be reporting about an actual Martian invasion in progress.

While there have been a number of adaptations of this sci-fi story, the most notable is Steven Spielberg's 2005 big-budget summer movie adaptation starring Tom Cruise. The movie took in $234.2 million domestically and $591.7 million worldwide from a $132 million budget. The movie also starred Dakota Fanning, Miranda Otto, Justin Chatwin, Tim Robbins, Yul Vasquez, Lenny Venito and Ann Robinson.

This new sci-fi series won't be the first time this idea has been taken to the small screen. There was a War of the Worlds TV series that aired for two seasons between 1988 and 1990. That series posited that the original aliens from the first 1953 movie were brought out of suspended animation when radiation kills the infecting bacteria. This leads the aliens to launch a new genocidal war against an unsuspecting Earth. We don't know if there will be any connection between this new series and the original 1988 show.

We also reported last year that another H.G. Wells novel, The Island of D.r Moreau will be heading to the small screen, with a new series being developed by CBS. Before writing the War of the Worlds pilot, Andrew Cochran was a staff writer on Teen Wolf, and he also wrote the 2014 feature film Adult World, which starred John Cusack and Emma Roberts. Jeff Davis' Teen Wolf begins its sixth and final season on November 15.