Fox Orders 4 Dramas, 2 Comedies, Including Tom Payne/Michael Sheen Drama ‘Prodigal Son’ & AI Thriller ‘neXt’
Fox has announced its main slate of pickups for the new season, which includes four dramas and two more comedies. The dramas are Tom Payne/Michael Sheen serial killer drama ‘Prodigal Son‘, Manny Coto’s AI thriller ‘neXt‘, Stephen Dorff fronted cop drama ‘Deputy‘, and a currently untitled family drama from Annie Weisman and Jason Katims based on Australia series, ‘Sisters’. The comedies are live-action family comedy ‘Outmatched‘ (previously titled ‘Geniuses’) starring Jason Biggs, and animated comedy ‘The Great North‘ from the creators of ‘Bob Burgers’.
‘Prodigal Son’
‘Prodigal Son’ centres on Malcolm Bright (Tom Payne – ‘The Walking Dead’), a criminal psychologist who has the “gift” of knowing how serial-killers think. That’s because he has studied one up close – His own father (Michael Sheen), known as the notorious serial killer “The Surgeon.” Bright uses talents to help the NYPD solve crimes and stop killers, all while dealing with a manipulative mother, annoyingly normal sister, a homicidal father still looking to bond with his prodigal son and his own constantly evolving neuroses.
The cast also includes Lou Diamond Phillips (‘Longmire’, ‘Stargate Universe’) who stars as Gil, a tough, old-school, NYPD detective who brings Bright onto the force to help stop a copycat killer; Aurora Perrineau (‘Chasing Life’, ‘Into the Dark’) who plays Dani, a courageous and experienced NYPD detective and former addict who initially doesn’t trust Bright, but he grows on her; Frank Harts (‘The Path’, ‘Billions’) who portrays JT, another detective who finds Bright’s forensic profiler eccentricities a little baffling; Bellamy Young (‘Scandal’) who will play Malcolm’s manipulative mother; And Keiko Agena (‘Gilmore Girls’, ‘The First’) who star as Edrisa, a slightly off-centre coroner working with the NYPD detective team. She is thrilled by her work, and she is both smitten and fascinated with Bright.
‘neXt’
‘neXt‘ is a propulsive, fact-based thriller about the emergence of a deadly, rogue artificial intelligence that combines pulse-pounding action with a layered examination of how technology is invading our lives and transforming us in ways we don’t yet understand. A Silicon Valley pioneer discovers that one of his own creations – a powerful A.I. – might spell global catastrophe, and teams up with a cybercrime agent to fight a villain unlike anything we’ve ever seen – one whose greatest weapon against us is ourselves.
The series comes from ’24’ writer and ’24: Legacy’ co-creator Manny Coto, and stars John Slattery (‘Mad Men’, ‘Veep’), Fernanda Andrade (‘The First’, ‘Here and Now’), Michael Mosley (‘Ozark’, ‘Longmire’), Jason Butler Harner (‘Ozark’, ‘Ray Donovan’), Eve Harlowe (‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’, ‘The 100’), and Aaron Moten (‘Mozart in the Jungle’, ‘the Night Of’).
‘Deputy’
‘Deputy‘ stars Stephen Dorff (‘True Detective’, ‘Star’) as Bill Hollister in a modern cop drama that blends the spirit of a classic Western with a modern-day attitude and gritty authenticity. When the Los Angeles County’s Sheriff dies, an arcane rule forged back in the Wild West thrusts the most unlikely man into the job: a fifth-generation lawman, more comfortable taking down bad guys than navigating a sea of politics. He leads a skilled team of ambitious and complicated human beings who won’t rest until justice is served.
Yara Martinez (‘Jane the Virgin’, ‘The Tick’), Brian Van Holt (‘Cougar Town’), Siena Goines (‘Andi Mack’), Bex Taylor-Klaus (‘Arrow’), Shane Paul McGhie (‘Sacred Lies’) and Mark Moses (‘Berlin Station’) also star. The drama is created by Will Beall, the man behind the ‘Aquaman’ screenplay, and developing the tv adaptation of ‘Training Day’.
‘Untitled Annie Weisman and Jason Katims Drama’
the ‘Untitled Annie Weisman and Jason Katims Drama’ tells the story of an unusual family formed through extreme odds, exploring such hot-button issues as identity, human connection and what it truly means to be a family. An only child finds her life turned upside down when her father reveals that, over the course of his prize-winning career as a pioneering fertility doctor, he used his own sperm to conceive upwards of a hundred children, including two new sisters. As these three young women slowly embrace their new reality, they will attempt to form an untraditional bond as sisters, even as they must welcome a tidal wave of new siblings into their rapidly expanding family. Based on the original Endemol Shine Australia series, ‘Sisters’, from Jonathan Gavin and Imogen Banks.
The series is written and EPed by Annie Weisman (‘The Path’, ‘Desperate Housewives’, ‘Suburgatory’) with Jason Katims (‘Parenthood’, ‘About a Boy’). Brittany Snow (‘Pitch Perfect’ franchise), Megalyn Echikunwoke (‘Vixen’, ‘The Following’), Emily Osment (‘Young & Hungry’, ‘The Kominsky Method’), Mo McRae (‘Big Little Lies’, ‘Empire’), Victoria Cartagena (‘Manifest’, ‘You’), Timothy Hutton (‘The Haunting of Hill House’, ‘How to Get Away with Murder’), and Mustafa Elzein (‘Sequestered’) star.
‘Outmatched’
‘Outmatched‘ is a family comedy about a blue-collar couple in South Jersey trying to get by and raise four kids… three of whom just happen to be certified geniuses.
The series comes from ‘LA to Vegas’ creator Lon Zimmet, and stars Jason Biggs (‘Orange Is The New Black’, ‘American Pie’) as the father, and Maggie Lawson (‘Psych’) as the mother. Connor Kalopsis (‘The Grinder’), Ashley Boettcher (‘Lost in Oz’), Jack Stanton (‘The Mick’), Tisha Campbell-Martin (‘Martin’) and newcomer Oakley Bull also star.
Lastly, ‘The Great North‘ is an animated series which follows the Alaskan adventures of the Tobin family as single dad Beef does his best to keep his weird bunch of kids close, especially as the artistic dreams of his only daughter Judy lead her away from the family fishing boat and into the glamorous world of the local mall.
The series comes from the people behind ‘Bob’s Burgers’, and has a voice cast including Nick Offerman (‘Parks and Recreation’), Jenny Slate (‘SNL’), Megan Mullally (‘Will & Grace’), Paul Rust (‘Love’), Aparna Nancherla (‘BoJack Horseman’), Will Forte (‘The Last Man on Earth’) and Dulcé Sloan (‘The Daily Show’).
These join the previously ordered animated series ‘Duncanville‘, from ‘The Simpson’s writers Mike & Julie Scully with Amy Poehler, about a spectacularly average 15-year-old boy, along with his friends and family; And ‘Bless the Harts‘, which comes from ‘SNL’ writer Emily Spivey, and is EPed by the legendary Lord & Miller, and follows a group of Southerners who are always broke as a joke and struggling for the American dream of status and wealth.
As these shows have only just been announced, there is, of course, no UK premiere information yet, but we’ll let you know when we have something.
