Universal Pictures developed a screenplay in 1995 with Kevin Smith, but the outing never materialized. In December 2001, it was announced that Universal had pacted with Dimension Films on the project after Dimension president Bob Weinstein saw its potential as a franchise. Universal retained film rights to the original TV show, while Dimension purchased the rights to the "Cyborg" novel, as well as Caidin's three other novels in the series: "Operation Nuke", "High Crystal" and "Cyborg IV". Larry Gordon and Scott Faye were going to produce with Paul Rosenberg's Collision Entertainment. Smith's screenplay was later adapted for "The Bionic Man", an ongoing comic book series launched in 2011 by Dynamite Comics.