Prime Video’s adaptation of the Image Comics series has taken a major step forward, with Deadline reporting that Imogen Poots (Vivarium) and John Reynolds (Seekers of Infinite Love) have been cast as the leads in the upcoming series.
Poots and Reynolds are playing lovers Suzie and Jon, respectively. Both characters have the ability to freeze time whenever they orgasm, an ability they naturally put to good use by robbing banks after sex.
Sex Criminals is based on the comic by writer Matt Fraction and artist Chip Zdarsky. The live-action series is developed by Kumail Nanjiani, Emily V. Gordon, and Tze Chun, with Nanjiani also set to star. The series has been greenlit for an eight-episode first season.
In IGN’s 2013 review of Sex Criminals #1, Melissa Grey wrote, “For a book about a gun-toting woman who literally orgasms her way to super powers (you heard me), Sex Criminals #1 is a remarkably relatable book. Writer Matt Fraction and artist Chip Zdarsky have crafted a debut issue that isn’t like anything we’ve seen yet. It’s part action adventure, part touching coming of age drama, all with a healthy amount of wry humor sprinkled throughout.”
The Sex Criminals adaptation has been in the works for well over a decade. We first learned of the series back in 2015, when it was in development at Universal Television, as part of a larger deal with Fraction and Kelly Sue DeConnick’s production company Milkfed Criminal Masterminds.
Both Fraction and Zdarsky remain very active in the comic book world. Fraction is currently the writer of DC’s monthly Batman series, which has recently revamped the Batman/Joker dynamic and completely changed Batgirl’s place in the DC Universe. Zdarsky is currently the writer of Captain America and the upcoming crossover series Avengers: Armageddon.
Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on BlueSky.
