Fox 2000 has picked up rights and is teaming with Ridley Scott to adapt Joe Haldeman's 1974 science fiction novel The Forever War.

According to Variety, Scott intended to follow Blade Runner and Alien with The Forever War, but rights complications delayed his plans for more than two decades.

"I first pursued 'Forever War' 25 years ago, and the book has only grown more timely and relevant since," Scott said. "It's a science-fiction epic, a bit of 'The Odyssey' by way of 'Blade Runner,' built upon a brilliant, disorienting premise."

The book revolves around a soldier who battles an enemy in deep space for only a few months, only to return home to a planet he doesn't recognize some 20 years later, Scott said.

No production date has been set.