‘Orphan Black’ to Cross Over to Comic Books in 2015

The Dyad Institute has apparently turned its attentions towards a brand new medium already familiar with the dangers of cloning, with IDW Publishing’s announcement Wednesday morning of a new comic book series based on Temple Street Productions’ popular Orphan Black.

Like the television series, IDW’s comic book spin-off will center around Sarah Manning (played by Tatiana Maslany on the show), a woman who discovers that she is one of a number of clones across the world created as part of something called “Project Leda” after witnessing the suicide of one of her genetically-engineered siblings. Adoping the identity of the clone she saw die, Sarah sets off to investigate her true origins.

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In a statement, Chris Ryall, the CCO of the comic publisher, called the show—which recently finished its second season on BBC America—a “perfect premise for comics,” adding that recent plot developments within the series have “only increased the amount of stories we’ll be able to tell in comic-book form.”

Temple Street’s Managing Director John Young added that the production company was “so thrilled for Orphan Black to take shape as a comic series and join the ranks of IDW’s impressive roster”—the publisher currently holds the comic book licenses for such properties as Star Trek, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Transformers—and said that it was the “enormous amount of enthusiasm” shown for the show at last year’s Comic-Con which inspired the partnership.

No creative team was announced for the Orphan Black comic, although the cover to the first issue, by artist Nick Runge, was released to accompany the news. The series will launch in early 2015.