London – NBCUniversal International Studios announces it has optioned the rights for Trees, a science fiction graphic novel series by comic book writer and New York Times bestselling author, Warren Ellis and illustrator, Jason Howard. The comics will be adapted for screen by London-based television production company, Hardy Son & Baker, with whom NBCUniversal International Studios has a first look deal.

Trees is an elevated-genre graphic novel series set ten years after the arrival of vast alien presences, who stand on the Earth’s surface like “trees”, that do not move or communicate. Appearing not to acknowledge human life and society, the series follows the silent pressure and strange changes they exert on global communities from China to the Arctic Circle.

Tom Coan, SVP, Scripted Programming at NBCUniversal International Studios comments, “Warren is one of the top names in comics and a best-selling author who has a terrifically subversive perspective on story. It’s that unique sensibility that sits at the heart of Trees, where he has turned the alien invasion genre on its ear. In addition to being inventive, Trees is simultaneously epic and intimate; a combination that lends itself very well to international television.”