Vampire shows are a constant on TV—but The Passage, a pilot just ordered by Fox, has some unusual elements lifting it above the pack. Behind the scenes, it has Liz Heldens (Friday Night Lights), Matt Reeves (Felicity, Cloverfield, War for the Planet of the Apes), and Ridley Scott (you know his credits). And its story isn’t a typical bloodsucker tale.
As Deadline reports, the project, scripted by Heldens, is based on Justin Cronin’s supernatural fantasy trilogy, which was first eyed as a feature film before being reshaped into an hour-long TV drama. It’s described as “a character-driven government conspiracy thriller and morphs into a post-apocalyptic saga with vampires.” The lead character is a girl targeted by sinister forces who may have the power to save humanity—kind of a cross between Buffy and Eleven.
Obviously casting that role (as well as aging the character appropriately—when she first appears in the books, she’s only six) will be crucial to the show’s success, but the sinister-government elements may also lend it a timeliness that’ll further endear it to viewers. As an added bonus, co-executive producer Reeves has some previous vampire experience (he directed Let Me In), while Scott’s production company, Scott Free, has another dystopian TV show out now: The Man in the High Castle.