“You need a legend to step into the shoes of a legend.”

That is how producer/writer/director Alex Kurtzman described the casting for his upcoming series The Man Who Fell to Earth, which will pay tribute to the 1976 Nicolas Roeg movie that starred David Bowie as an alien finding his way around our planet. The series will star Oscar nominees Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave, Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness) and Naomie Harris (No Time to Die, Venom: Let There Be Carnage), but British actor Bill Nighy (who co-starred with Ejiofor in Love, Actually) will play the character of Thomas Newton, Bowie’s character from the movie.

Nighy’s Newton, the first alien to arrive on Earth more than 40 years prior, summons Ejiofor’s Faraday to complete his original mission. However, Newton’s time marooned among human beings may have cost him everything, including his sanity.

The series, which like the movie is based on a novel by Walter Tevis, will premiere on April 24th on Showtime. Tevis is also the author of The Queen’s Gambit, the adaptation of which was wildly successful for Netflix last year.

“I think it’s amazing and it’s beautiful that Walter Tevis is having is moment right now. I wish he had more of it when he was alive so he could appreciate how much people appreciate his work,” Kurtman said of the novelist at Showtime Television Critic’s Association virtual panel on Tuesday.

“I think we felt a tremendous debt to honor the legacy of David Bowie, of Walter Tevis and Nicolas Roeg – of all the people who built these extraordinary stories because they clearly wrenched their hearts open to tell them. We felt like the only way to do this authentically and honestly is to do the same.”

Bowie won a Best Actor Saturn award for his portrayal of Newton, but did not perform any music for the soundtrack.

Jimmi Simpson, Rob Delaney, Sonya Cassidy, Joana Ribeiro, Annelle Olaleye, Kate Mulgrew, and Clarke Peters will also star in the series.

During the panel, Ejiofor spoke about how he’s tapping into his own personal experiences to play an alien trapped on Earth for the television adaptation of Tevis’ story.

“You have to rely on the ways you’ve interacted with people, the way you’ve felt like an outsider, the way you’ve tried to belong…you have to bring that to playing the part to try to understand it,” he said. “Inevitably, that kind of throws up this contemplation of your own journey, about your own personality.”

Kurtzman and writer Jenny Lumet are writing and executive producing the series and will serve as showrunners alongside John Hlavin.