AMC greenlights two new dramas from 'Breaking Bad', 'Nikita' producers

AMC greenlights two new dramas from 'Breaking Bad', 'Nikita' producers

With some of its series beginning to wind down, AMC is making an aggressive push toward new original content, commissioning two new pilots for next year.

AMC

"Turn" from Craig Silverstein, creator and executive producer of The CW's "Nikita," is said to be a period drama set during the American Revolutionary War. Based on Alexander Rose's book "Washington's Spies," it revolves around a New York farmer uniting his childhood friends to form The Culper Ring, a group of spies who attempt to turn the tide in the fight for American independence. Silverstein originally wrote the "Turn" pilot the same year he wrote "Nikita" and co-wrote Fox's short-lived "Terra Nova," though he will likely not stay on as showrunner for his new AMC series should it get picked up.

The other new series "Halt & Catch Fire", from "Breaking Bad" producers Mark Johnson and Melissa McBride, dramatizes the Silicon Valley personal computing boom in the 1980s, told from the point of view of three characters whose innovations throw his corporate competitors for a loop. Their personal and professional partnership is put to the test as their visions take the technological world by storm.

The cable network is adding to its slate of original programming with the two newly commissioned pilots, which will compete with two others already wrapping production: the Detroit cop drama "Low Winter Sun" and a still-untitled Tony Goldwyn-produced project. Filming on both new pilots will begin next year.

The four pilot orders is something of a landmark for AMC, as it represents their largest order of original programming ever. "These additional pilot orders demonstrate AMC’s investment in our original scripted programming,” said Susie Fitzgerald, AMC’s SVP of scripted development and current programming. “Both of these projects take the audience into unique worlds through compelling characters told with an original voice.”

I may check both of these out.