FOX has greenlighted M. Night Shyamalan’s event series “Wayward Pines” for a 2014 premiere during next season. Matt Dillon has been cast as the lead in the project based on Durango author Blake Crouch’s novel Pines. Described as a mind-bending thriller in which nothing is what it seems, it centers on Secret Service agent Ethan Burke (Dillon) who arrives in the bucolic town of Wayward Pines, Idaho, on a mission to find two missing federal agents. But instead of answers, Ethan’s investigation only turns up more questions.
Written by Chad Hodge and directed by Shyamalan, “Wayward Pines” was one of the first two event series projects FOX put in development at the beginning of the year under its new mandate to make a push in that area. Hodge and Shyamalan executive produce with Donald DeLine and Ashwin Rajan for FX Productions.
Crouch has been dividing his time between his Durango home and Los Angeles, where he will be a writer on the show. He said filming is scheduled to begin this summer and “Wayward Pines” will be included in the 2014 FOX lineup.
Herald Arts & Entertainment Editor Ted Holteen contributed to this report.
