Steven Moffat Talks ‘The Time Traveler’s Wife’ Series As HBO Unveils First Look

“We’re not messing around with the stuff that really matters,” Steven Moffat, executive producer of HBO’s upcoming series adaptation of Audrey Niffenegger’s book The Time Traveler’s Wife, declared.

Moffat was talking up the series, which is set to premiere later this spring, during HBO’s virtual TCA press day Tuesday, and comes as the network unveiled the first look at the show.

The Time Traveler’s Wife stars Rose Leslie as Clare Abshire, Theo James as Henry DeTamble, Desmin Borges as Gomez, and Natasha Lopez as Charisse. The six-part series is an intricate and magical love story and tells the tale of Clare and Henry, and a marriage with a problem… time travel.

“What is thrilling of the interaction of time travel and a love story here, is it makes the most common phenomenon of a completely happy marriage, interesting again. Love stories, or love movies, tend to end at the alter. We never do the bit where people are perfectly happy for decades because it seems like a dramatic thing. By scrambling it all up and constantly reminding you that love is inextricably linked to loss, which is a cheery thought, you make this very common phenomenon of a happy marriage, thrilling and full of attention and tragedy,” the former Doctor Who showrunner said.

“I do love a time travel story in general, as my career would suggest,” he added.

James called Moffat’s use of time travel “delicious,” although he pointed out that on some days he would be shooting one year at the beginning of the day and another age at the end of the day.

Moffat also addressed the difference between the 2009 movie starring Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams. “We can tell the whole story, the movie was a quite intelligently abbreviated version but abbreviating it you miss all the detail and complexity and make it all about the time travel and not about the love story,” he said.

The Time Traveler’s Wife is produced by HBO and Warner Bros Television with Moffat, Sue Vertue and Brian Minchin exec producing via their Hartswood Films alongside Joseph E. Iberti and David Nutter.