Timing is everything in Hollywood. In 1994, Ridley Scott signed on to direct a big-screen adaptation of a thrilling medical bestseller that chronicles the origins of deadly viruses. However, the project was dropped, partially because a competing movie was released around the same time. More than two decades later, Scott helped bring the story to television as a 12-episode National Geographic series (comprised of two seasons of six episodes each), which premiered in May 2019.