So what brings Ejiofor’s non-terrestrial to our humble little planet in “The Man Who Fell on Earth”? Kurtzman and Lumet are keeping this to themselves for now, but have confirmed that he is going in search of the character of Harris – a human scientist who has “such an extraordinary ability in her, but is afraid to engage with the part of her. ‘herself who can make the world a better place. ”

Another big difference between Bowie’s movie and Ejiofor’s series? The latter grapples with the daunting challenges facing humanity in the present, but tells what Kurtzman describes as a “much more uplifting” story. Lumet added:

“I believe in human beings and wanted to write about human beings who come out and get on and out of it. Because we’re pretty cool species. And I believe if an astronaut came to Earth, he would see all our shenanigans and he would say, ‘Wait a minute, you can do some really nice things.’ “

A sci-fi show with a more upbeat, albeit still nuanced, take on us humans and our ability to do better could provide a nice change of pace in the modern television landscape. (Between “Westworld” and “Black Mirror,” we don’t really suffer for sci-fi series with a dark take on human nature.) Go ahead, I say.

“The Man Who Fell to Earth” debuts on Showtime in 2022.