One of the more interesting broadcast projects coming to the small screen next year will undoubtedly be one from the tandem of Homeland’s Howard Gordon and screenwriter Josh Friedman. Not only has Gordon proven himself several times in the television landscape, but his partner on this one is as good as it gets to sci-fi fans. Friedman’s credits include the 2005 Spielberg-directed feature film adaptation of War of the Worlds and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. He also wrote an episode of the cancelled Bones spin-off The Finder, but then again everyone has their dud.
On that note, this will be the second time Gordon will be flocking to NBC with a ‘high-concept drama’ in a short while as he recently backed the short-lived, but well-received series Awake. Described as a futuristic thriller, this new project of his will follow a detective investigating an ensuing robot rebellion after uncovering the first robot-on-human murder. This seems an awful lot like I, Robot, but we can imagine far more grit and a dramatic decrease in swagger via the show’s protagonist.
According to Deadline, another difference between the two though will be that robots look like humans which reminds us of another ‘already done’ effort by the name of Battlestar Galactica. At one point, NBC tried to run that show on broadcast television (it was based on Syfy) and viewers did no bite. The key here will be to make this show as emotionally tangible to a wide ranging audience as possible.