HBO's 'The Time Traveler's Wife' Images Are Romantic In Any Timeline

There was a time when time travel and interwoven out-of-sequence storytelling spanning decades was the province of science fiction, dominated by series such as Doctor Who and Star Trek. But with the rise of prestige TV and in media res openings, twisted timelines have become almost de rigueur, from broadcast TV's This Is Us flitting through the generations to Showtime's Yellowjackets dual timeline storytelling. (And let's not even get into that whole multiverse thing at Marvel.) But one of the gold standards for including it in the romance genre is Audrey Niffenegger's The Time Traveler's Wife, the TV adaptation of which is heading to HBO later this spring.

The project comes from Steven Moffat, known for relationship-driven stories like Coupling and twisty time travel adventures on Doctor Who. At the Television Critics Association press tour panel for the upcoming series, Moffat admitted he'd been in love with the story since first reading it, even using the idea to write one of his best Doctor Who stories, Season 2's "The Girl In The Fireplace." Moffat said he was drawn to the novel when he first read it because "what is brilliant and thrilling about the interaction of time travel and a love story here is it makes the most common phenomenon of a completely happy marriage interesting again."

I mean, love stories tend to end at the altar, or love movies do. A romance movie ends at the altar, or they start with the divorce. We never do the bit where people are perfectly happy with each other for decades because it seems like an undramatic thing, in a way. By scrambling it all up and by constantly reminding you that love is inextricably linked to loss — which is a cheery thought for you all — you make this very common phenomenon of the happy marriage interesting, thrilling, and full of tension and tragedy, as well as joy and happiness.