The 29-year-old has been cast as the lead in Time After Time, a new TV show based on writer Karl Alexander's 1979 sci-fi novel and its subsequent movie adaptation, which imagined Wells had actually built a time machine and travelled to the future.

A Clockwork Orange star Malcolm MCDowell originally played Wells in the 1979 film, directed by Alexander's pal Nicholas Meyer.

Kevin Williamson, the creator of hit shows Dawson's Creek and The Vampire Diaries, penned the script for Time After Time and will serve as executive producer, with Chaos Theory's Marcos Siega directing, reports Deadline.com.