The Turning

Written By D.R. DAMMA

🎬 PITCH DECK: THE TURNING

A historical sci-fi drama about love, knowledge, betrayal, and the war to save a civilization’s soul.

🎯 LOG LINE

When a mysterious woman named Ade becomes the assistant to the renowned scholar Ibn al-Haytham in 11th-century Baghdad, she helps ignite a revolution in science, politics, and power—but Ade is not who she seems. A sentient machine from the future, her mission is to save the Islamic Golden Age from collapse… by rewriting history.

🌍 SERIES OVERVIEW

  • Genre: Historical Sci-Fi / Political Drama / Soap Opera

  • Tone: The Man in the High Castle meets Queen Sono with the philosophical richness of The OA

  • Format: Hour-long episodes | 10 Episodes per Season | Multi-Season Arc (10 seasons planned)

🧠 THE CORE PREMISE

In a world on the brink of losing its intellectual and cultural brilliance, a futuristic agent—a sentient nanotech being named Ilozumba Adebayo—is sent back in time to stabilize the Islamic Golden Age. Disguised as a slave girl, she infiltrates the House of Wisdom and gains the trust of Ibn al-Haytham, only to discover that the past is just as dangerous and unpredictable as the future she left behind.

🕰️ TIME & PLACE

  • Primary Setting: 11th-century Basra & Baghdad during the twilight of the Islamic Golden Age

  • Key Locations:

    • House of Wisdom (Baghdad)

    • General Al-Amate’s ancestral estate

    • Ibn al-Haytham’s residence

    • Vizier’s council chambers

    • Shadowy corridors of the Abbasid-Fatimid political world

💡 WHAT MAKES IT DIFFERENT?

  • Feminist & Afrofuturist Lens: Reframes classical Islamic history through a modern, intersectional eye.

  • Science vs. Power: Explores the tension between truth, control, and knowledge—centuries before Galileo.

  • Speculative Historical Sci-Fi: Like Watchmen or The Handmaid’s Tale, it bends history to reimagine what could’ve been.

  • Multilingual, Multicultural Cast: Characters from North Africa, Persia, Andalusia, India, Byzantium, and the African kingdoms.

🔥 KEY CHARACTERS

ADE (Ilozumba Adebayo)

  • A time-traveling sentient being disguised as a slave

  • Mission: Save the Golden Age by guiding Ibn al-Haytham and preserving open inquiry

  • Emotionally scarred, calculating, yet increasingly human

IBN AL-HAYTHAM

  • Brilliant scholar torn between his passion for knowledge and the demands of empire

  • Slowly falls for Ade—intellectually first, then emotionally

SALMA & ZAINAB

  • Wives of Ibn al-Haytham

  • Ambitious, manipulative, and increasingly threatened by Ade

  • Represent power, status, and the crumbling old order

GENERAL AL-AMATE

  • Military tactician haunted by Baghdad’s decline

  • Becomes an unlikely ally—and suspicious observer—of Ade

IBN SINA (AVICENNA)

  • Philosopher, physician, and political chessmaster

  • Allies with Ade and Ibn al-Haytham in the intellectual reawakening

🎭 THEMATIC THREADS

  • The fight for intellectual freedom

  • The collision between faith and reason

  • The burden of knowledge and identity

  • The reconstruction of history through narrative

  • The politics of memory, power, and legacy

🔄 SEASONAL ARC

Season 1: Revelation

  • Ade enters Ibn al-Haytham’s home

  • Their bond grows; her secret is slowly revealed

  • Ends with Ibn al-Haytham discovering her true nature

Season 2–5: Resistance and Renaissance

  • The House of Wisdom is rebuilt

  • Political enemies rise

  • Ade manipulates alliances across empires

Season 6–9: War and Philosophy

  • External and internal threats converge

  • Counter-religious orthodoxy movement begins

  • Creation of The Enlightened Lifestyle text

Season 10: The Turning

  • Ade prepares for the Mongols

  • Establishes a scientific and spiritual resistance

  • Ends with the legacy secured… but at what cost?

📚 VISUAL STYLE & INFLUENCES

  • House of Cards – political manipulation

  • The Expanse – sci-fi with philosophical weight

  • Queen Sono – espionage, African identity

  • The Man in the High Castle – alternate history

  • Dune – messianic subversion and intellectual power

🧬 FUTURE FRANCHISE POTENTIAL

  • Novels & YA Adaptations

  • Graphic Novel Anthology (Tales from the House of Wisdom)

  • Educational Tie-ins exploring ancient science and forgotten histories

  • Spin-offs: Young Ibn Sina, Rise of the Majlis al-Hikmah, The Fall of Córdoba

🚀 WHY NOW?

  • In a world of polarization and censorship, The Turning speaks to the power of open inquiry, collective memory, and radical imagination.

  • It centers Africa, women, and lost histories in the global conversation.

  • It is a mirror to our moment—an origin story of ideas that still shape our world.

Sample Script: Ten Pages

D.R. DAMMA
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