According to Andrew Kosove (The Blind Side), who will produce alongside Christopher Nolan and his wife Emma Thomas, Transcendence centres on "three scientists, Max and the husband and wife team of Will [Depp] and Evelyn, who have been developing a programming code for the world’s first fully self-aware computer. A group of anti-technology terrorists assassinate Will, and Evelyn uploads his brain into a prototype supercomputer. Although she at first finds that the experiment seems to have gone wrong, before long, Evelyn finds Will responding in computer form. She goes on to connect Will to the Internet so he can help make further scientific breakthroughs. Will asks Evelyn to connect a microphone and a camera to the computer so he can see and speak to her as well. When the anti-technology organization finds out, they try to steal the supercomputer and destroy it, but Will no longer needs the computer to survive."
Kosove went on to confirm that Ewan McGregor (Jack the Giant Slayer) passed on an early draft of the script, while Tom Hardy (The Dark Knight Rises) was forced to decline due to scheduling conflicts. In terms of the female lead, Kosove stated that Kate Winslet (Titanic) had been unavailable, as well as denying that Noomi Rapace (Prometheus) had been under consideration, with Deadline subsequently reporting that the role of Evelyn is now between Rooney Mara (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), Rebecca Hall (Iron Man 3) and Emily Blunt (Looper).
