Lee Isaac Chung To Follow Up Twisters With Sci-Fi Family Drama The Traveler

It has been a whirlwind few years for filmmaker Lee Isaac Chung — and not just because his last rodeo was tornado-based disaster movie Twisters. Just half a decade ago Chung, struggling to get by as an indie director, was about ready to quit directing to pursue a career as a film lecturer. But now, one Minari, a fistful of Oscar nominations, and a brace of Star Wars gigs helming episodes of The Mandalorian and Skeleton Crew later, the world it seems is Chung's oyster. And, per Deadline's reporting, we're learning that the next cinematic pearl from the Korean-American auteur is set to be an adaptation of Joseph Eckert's sci-fi novel Traveler.

Described as an "intimate family drama" (so far so Chung) that unfurls into "a vast science fiction odyssey" (perhaps a little less Chung), The Traveler was initially adapted for screen by writer Austin Everett, who made the Black List with his early draft of the film. The current iteration of the screenplay hails from Terminator: Dark Fate writer Justin Rhodes, and while the movie's logline is being kept under wraps currently, the book's plot outline offers a tantalising glimpse at what lies ahead. The novel revolves around 47-year-old biotech Scott Treder, a man who begins inexplicably jumping through time and finds himself working with his genius son Lyle — just a child when the time skipping starts — to try and stop it. As Eckert's own summary of the book puts it, Scott becomes both "witness to and shaper of the future" — like a sort-of sci-fi Forrest Gump.

Currently just in the early stages of development at Skydance, with neither cast nor production schedule set in stone yet, it's unlikely that we'll see The Traveler cross our local multiplex's path any time imminently. But given how deftly Chung wove the familial tale of Minari, how easily he transitioned to blockbuster moviemaking with Twisters, and how naturally he's acclimatised to the world of sci-fi working on Star Wars, it already feels like The Traveler has found its perfect companion to bring it to our screens at long last. Now if only we could time skip to opening night, eh?