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Photos/Videos Of M. Night Shyamalan’s WAYWARD PINES, J.J. Abrams’ ALMOST HUMAN And Thriller SLEEPY HOLLOW From Fox TV 2014 Lineup

By Michelle McCue | May 13, 2013

On Monday Fox unveiled their primetime slate for the 2013-2014 television season to the national advertising community during its annual Programming Presentation at the Beacon Theatre in New York City. The network announced 5 new comedies, 4 new dramas, a first event series, and an animated comedy from Seth MacFarlane.

Some of today’s most inventive directors working in film have smoothly segued from motion pictures to series TV and their new shows have found a home at FOX. What caught my attention were the sci-fi, fantasy shows bearing the names of Abrams, Shyamalan, Kurtzman and Orci.

Among the network’s lineup is M. Night Shyamalan’s new event series WAYWARD PINES. Set to premiere in 2014 and based on the best-selling novel, “Pines,” by Blake Crouch, WAYWARD PINES is an intense, mind-bending thriller in which nothing is what it seems. Also on the FOX schedule is the adventure thriller SLEEPY HOLLOW from co-creators/executive producers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci (the “Star Trek” and “Transformers” franchises, “Fringe”) and J.J. Abrams’ ALMOST HUMAN.

Pictured: WAYWARD PINES M. Night Shyamalan and WAYWARD PINES Matt Dillon at the FOX 2013 PROGRAMMING PRESENTATION party, Monday, May 13 at Wollman Rink in Central Park, New York City. CR: Brad Barket/FOX

In WAYWARD PINES, Secret Service agent ETHAN BURKE (Academy Award nominee Matt Dillon, “Crash,” “City of Ghosts”) arrives in the bucolic town of Wayward Pines, ID, on a mission to find two missing federal agents. But instead of answers, Ethan’s investigation only turns up more questions. Each step closer to the truth takes Ethan further from the life he knew, from the husband and father he was, until he must face the terrifying reality that he may never get out of Wayward Pines alive.

Imagine the perfect American town… beautiful homes, manicured lawns, children playing safely in the streets. Now imagine never being able to leave. You have no communication with the outside world. You think you’re going insane. You must be in Wayward Pines. Based on the best-selling novel “Pines” by Blake Crouch and brought to life by suspenseful storyteller M. Night Shyamalan (“The Sixth Sense,” “Signs”), WAYWARD PINES is the intense new mind-bending event thriller evocative of the classic cult hit “Twin Peaks.” Secret Service Agent ETHAN BURKE (Academy Award nominee Matt Dillon, “Crash,” “City of Ghosts”) drives to the bucolic town of Wayward Pines, ID, to find two missing federal agents. Ethan was the logical choice for the mission. He’s one of the best Secret Service agents in the Seattle office. He’s also the man who knew missing agent KATE HEWSON better than anyone. They were partners. They were more than that. Their relationship nearly destroyed Ethan’s marriage. Kate transferred to Boise and Ethan thought he’d never see her again.

Now, Kate and her new Secret Service partner, BILL EVANS, are nowhere to be found. But just as Ethan spots the sign that says “Welcome to Wayward Pines, Where Paradise is Home!,” a truck slams into his car. When Ethan wakes up in the Wayward Pines Hospital, he remembers his name, his address in Seattle and the accident on the outskirts of town. He knows he’s a Secret Service Agent who came to Wayward Pines to investigate the disappearance of two agents. What he can’t figure out is what’s wrong with this eerily perfect little town. None of the phones work. He can’t get through to his wife back home or his boss at the Secret Service. His wallet, ID, money, phone…everything is gone. And no one will help him. Back home in Seattle, Ethan’s wife, THERESA, gets a call from Ethan’s boss at the Secret Service, ADAM HASSLER. Ethan is missing. No other information is available until early testing shows that Ethan was never in his car that was recovered on the side of the road outside of Wayward Pines. They’re still investigating. This isn’t enough for Theresa. Along with their teenage son, BEN, Theresa sets out on her own search for Ethan.

The mystery only deepens as Ethan employs his intelligence and tireless determination to solve the mystery of this unsettling town. Challenged at every turn by the town’s die-hard residents, Ethan’s investigation only turns up more questions, the most important of which is: What’s wrong with Wayward Pines?

WAYWARD PINES is a production of FX Productions. The series is created and written by Chad Hodge (“The Playboy Club,” “Runaway”) and executive-produced by Shyamalan, Hodge, Donald De Line (“Green Lantern,” “The Italian Job”) and Ashwin Rajan (“After Earth”).

SLEEPY HOLLOW is a modern-day retelling of Washington Irving’s classic. ICHABOD CRANE (Tom Mison, “Salmon Fishing in the Yemen”) is resurrected and pulled two and a half centuries through time to find that the world is on the brink of destruction and that he is humanity’s last hope, forcing him to team up with a contemporary police officer (Nicole Beharie, “Shame,” “American Violet”) to unravel a mystery that dates back to the founding fathers.

What if you suddenly woke up from the throes of death 250 years in the future to find the world is on the brink of destruction, caused by unimaginable events, and you are humanity’s last hope? Welcome to SLEEPY HOLLOW, the thrilling new mystery-adventure drama from co-creators/executive producers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci (“Star Trek” and “Transformers” franchises, “Fringe”).

In this modern-day retelling of Washington Irving’s classic, ICHABOD CRANE (Tom Mison, “Salmon Fishing in the Yemen”) is resurrected and pulled two and a half centuries through time to unravel a mystery that dates all the way back to the founding fathers. Revived alongside Ichabod is the infamous Headless Horseman who is on a murderous rampage in present-day Sleepy Hollow.

Bound to the Headless Horseman by a blood spell cast on the battlefield of the American Revolution, Ichabod quickly realizes that stopping Headless is just the beginning, as the resurrected rider is but the first of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. As this re-invented Ichabod finds himself in present-day Sleepy Hollow, he discovers a town and a world he no longer recognizes. All that is brutally familiar are Headless and Ichabod’s determination to annihilate this immortal being.

It’s a mission he must complete quickly, as Headless already has viciously slain Sheriff AUGUST CORBIN (guest star Clancy Brown, “Cowboys & Aliens,” “Carnivale”). Grey served both as mentor and father figure to Detective ABBIE MILLS (Nicole Beharie, “Shame,” “American Violet”), a young cop whose own supernatural experiences help her form an unlikely bond with Ichabod. But Sleepy Hollow’s head of police, Captain FRANK IRVING (Orlando Jones, “The Chicago 8,” “Drumline”), isn’t buying any of this. In fact, the only person who is on Abbie’s side is Ichabod.

His extensive first-hand knowledge of our secret American history, coupled with her superior profiling and modern threat assessment skills, will make them a formidable duo as they work together to triumph over evil. The complex pasts of Ichabod and Abbie, from Ichabod’s inclusion in the powerful and secretive Freemasons Society and the ghostly appearance of his late wife, KATRINA (Katia Winter, “Dexter”), to Abbie’s childhood visions, will help them solve the intricate puzzles of Sleepy Hollow in order to protect its future. As history repeats itself, the oddly-linked pair will draw on the real stories and hallowed secrets this nation was founded on in their quest to stop an increasingly vicious cycle of evil. SLEEPY HOLLOW is from K/O Paper Products in association with 20th Century Fox Television. The series is co-created by Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, Phillip Iscove and Len Wiseman (“Hawaii Five-0,” “Underworld” and “Total Recall”). The series is executive-produced by Kurtzman, Orci, Wiseman and Heather Kadin. Iscove serves as supervising producer. Wiseman directed the pilot.

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From Emmy Award-winning executive producer J.J. Abrams (“Fringe,” “Lost,” the “Star Trek” and “Mission: Impossible” franchises) and creator/executive producer J.H. Wyman (“Fringe,” “The Mexican”), comes ALMOST HUMAN.

Starring Karl Urban (“Star Trek”) and Michael Ealy (“Sleeper Cell,” “Common Law”), the new series is an action-packed police drama set 35 years in the future, when police officers are partnered with highly evolved human-like androids.

The year is 2048. Meet JOHN KENNEX (Urban), a cop who survived one of the most catastrophic attacks ever made against the police department. After waking up from a 17-month coma, he can’t remember much – except that his partner was killed; his girlfriend, ANNA MOORE (guest star Mekia Cox, “Crazy, Stupid, Love.,” “Undercovers”), left him after the attack; and he lost one of his legs and is now outfitted with a highly sophisticated synthetic appendage. Suffering from depression, mental atrophy, trauma-onset OCD, PTSD and the “psychological rejection of his synthetic body part,” John returns to work at the behest of longtime ally Captain SANDRA MALDONADO (Emmy Award nominee Lili Taylor, “Six Feet Under,” “Ransom”).

By mandate, every cop must partner with a robot. And despite his passionate aversion to androids, John is paired up with a battle-ready MX-43. But he abruptly terminates his partnership after the robot discovers incriminating information about him. So technician RUDY LOM (Mackenzie Crook, “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise) introduces John to DORIAN (Ealy), a discontinued android with unexpected emotional responses. Although such responses were deemed flaws, it is in these “flaws” that John relates to Dorian most. After all, John is part-machine now, and Dorian is part-human. John and Dorian’s understanding of each other not only complements them, it connects them.

As he adjusts to working with his new partner, John also must learn to get along with his new colleagues, including the eager and somewhat starstruck Detective VALERIE STAHL (Minka Kelly, “Friday Night Lights,” “(500) Days of Summer”) and the distrustful Detective RICHARD PAUL (Michael Irby, “Law Abiding Citizen,” “The Unit”), who does not welcome John back with open arms. ALMOST HUMAN will follow the week-to-week missions of John and Dorian, as they fight crime across this futuristic landscape, while the mysteries surrounding his attack and the larger mythology of this new world unfold.

ALMOST HUMAN is produced by Bonanza Productions Inc. in association with Bad Robot Productions and Warner Bros. Television. The series is created by J.H. Wyman, who wrote the pilot. The series is executive-produced by J.J. Abrams, Bryan Burk and Wyman. Kathy Lingg (“Person of Interest,” “Revolution,” “Fringe”) and Reid Shane (“Fringe”) are co-executive producers. Brad Anderson (“Fringe,” “The Killing”) directed and served as co-executive producer on the pilot.

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