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Hurley’s Headed for Another Island

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Jorge Garcia, aka Hurley from Lost, has been cast in a lead role in the new Fox series Alcatraz. Both Lost and Alcatraz were developed under J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot Productions, and reportedly, this new role was written specifically for Garcia.

We also know now what the new show is about. Overseen by Lost writing alumni Elizabeth Sarnoff, Alcatraz tells the story of a group of Alcatraz prisoners and guards who went missing thirty years ago, when the prison was still open, and who reappear in the present day. The show follows an FBI team that tries to track down these returned individuals and piece together the mystery of their disppearance.

Garcia is set to play a “hippy geek” expert on Alcatraz named Dr. Diego Soto, who works with the FBI team.

Production on Alcatraz begins in January.

Abrams’ 2 New Shows Get Pilot Orders

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CBS is about to go into the J.J. Abrams business for the first time, while Fox will soon be getting its second helping of Abrams-y goodness.

As I predicted, CBS has decided that Person of Interest, the crime thriller Abrams is developing with Jonathan Nolan, might just be a good fit for their lineup. They’ve given a pilot order to the series. Nolan is best known for writing the script to The Dark Knight, which his brother Christopher directed. Next to nothing is known about the plot, but this will be the first time that CBS has broadcast an Abrams show.

Fox, meanwhile, has put in a similar pilot order for Alcatraz, the new Abrams show from Lost writer Elizabeth Sarnoff. Just like the CBS show, next to nothing is known about this drama, other than it focuses on mysteries and secrets surrounding Alcatraz prison. Before Sarnoff wrote the spec script, earlier versions were written by Steven Lilien and Bryan Wynbrandt of Kyle XY.

JJ Abrams’ ‘Alcatraz’ picked up by Fox

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That new show Alcatraz that I told you about earlier this week, from JJ Abrams? Fox has grabbed it and given it a pilot order. It will join the brilliant Fringe, another Abrams show, on Fox should it be greenlit.

The ever-secretive Abrams has revealed next to nothing about the plot so far — only this cryptic description: “A show about mysteries, secrets and the most infamous prison of all time: Alcatraz.”

JJ Abrams Shops 2 New Shows

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His new NBC show Undercovers hasn’t even premiered yet (that happens September 22nd), but J.J. Abrams isn’t content with just two TV shows on the air. (The other, of course, is Fox’s Fringe, which is about to debut its 3rd season on September 23rd.)

According to EW.com, Abrams is currently shopping around not one but two brand new TV hour-longs for broadcast networks. The first is Alcatraz, about the famous prison island of the same name. The idea is said to come from writer Elizabeth Sarnoff, who worked on almost the entire run of Lost; Sarnoff wrote the script.

The second is untitled, but comes from an extremely popular writer: Jonathan Nolan. You may not recognize his name, but you definitely know his work: he wrote the screenplay for The Dark Knight, which his brother Christopher directed. He also co-wrote his brother’s The Prestige, and he wrote the short story that the movie Memento was based on. All that’s known about Nolan’s TV series concept is that it’s a crime/thriller (and everyone who saw The Dark Knight can attest that Nolan knows how to write that genre).

As for Abrams, you’ve gotta respect a guy who has a major career ahead of him in film directing, yet still loves television enough to create new properties for it. If Abrams were to get both shows on the air, he could conceivably have a show on all four major broadcast networks: Fringe is on Fox, Undercovers on NBC; Nolan’s crime/thriller might make a good fit for procedural-loving CBS; and maybe ABC could take Alcatraz, based on their existing relationship with Lost‘s Sarnoff.