Steven Spielberg Is Helping Adapt Stanley Kubrick's Unproduced Screenplay Napoleon For An HBO Limited Series

Stanley Kubrick left behind several incomplete projects when he died in 1999, with "Napoléon" arguably being his most infamous one. After devoting much of his life to studying the life of French army general Napoléon Bonaparte, several issues arose while he was attempting to get it off the ground. He eventually never returned to it, but his script is far from dead. That's because Steven Spielberg, who worked with Kubrick on "A.I. Artificial Intelligence," confirmed that he was still working on adapting his lengthy script as an HBO limited series.

"We are mounting a big production with the cooperation of [widow] Christiane Kubrick and [producer] Jan Harlan for HBO based on Stanley's original script, 'Napoléon,'" the "Fablemans" director said,

Spielberg delivered these remarks during a conference at the Berlinale Film Festival. It's not likely that he will direct the miniseries, as he also said during the conference that he has not yet set his next directorial effort. However, whoever they choose will be tasked with directing seven episodes of what film scholars have called "the greatest movie never made."

While we are undoubtedly excited to have a new Steven Spielberg project underway, especially based on Kubrick's acclaimed "Napoléon" script, this series has been developing for several years. He first announced plans to adapt the script into a limited series in 2013, although details provided at that time were very scarce. Regardless, development on the series was in full swing, with Baz Luhrmann even being eyed to direct the series. For undisclosed reasons, this very blessed and very cursed collaboration never came to be.

News on "Napoléon" slowed down after that for a couple of years. However, the discussion around it was again revived after it was revealed that Cary Joji Fukunaga was in talks to direct the series. Once again, news on the project slowed down tremendously, likely because of other projects Spielberg had taken on during development. With Warner Bros. Discovery canceling projects like they're hotcakes over the past few months, it seemed like "Napoléon" was quietly among those that got the axe. Thankfully, that doesn't seem to be the case.

If you were keeping track at home, "Napoléon" has been in the works at HBO for ten consecutive years. It has also been seven years since the last piece of information was dropped on it. It's unknown whether Fukunaga was hired or is still attached, as Spielberg did not mention him during the Berlinale talk. However, what we do know is that nobody wants or should bet against Spielberg.