J.J. Abrams Developing ‘Alcatraz’ TV Series

J.J. Abrams certainly knows how to keep himself busy and is looking to add another item to his long list of upcoming production duties – namely, Alcatraz, a TV show set on the well-known prison island.

Kyle XY story editors/writers Steven Lilien and Bryan Wynbrandt were the original creators of Alcatraz and sold the project to Abram’s Bad Robot production company.  Lost executive producer Elizabeth Sarnoff wrote a spec script based off their initial work and has begun to shop it around to networks for consideration.

Alcatraz would be the third TV series currently running under the Bad Robot banner – after the hit Fox sc-fi show Fringe and the upcoming spy drama Undercovers on NBC.  Abrams was responsible for co-writing the spec scripts for both of those shows, which was not the case for Alcatraz.

Shooting on Abrams’ Super 8 movie is scheduled to begin around the end of this month, while pre-production on another Abrams project, Star Trek 2, starts January of 2011.  Abrams is also rumored to be working with The Host director Bong Joo-ho on a new film as well – needless to say, he will have little time to spare and his involvement with Alcatraz will undoubtedly be limited as a result.

Previous Abrams-produced TV shows have varied from the coming-of-age series Felicity to the spy thriller Alias and (of course) the recently-ended supernatural adventure series Lost.  Alcatraz could be a period piece about life on the island’s prison prior to its being shut down – it might even be an entirely different kind of genre show that includes elements of science fiction and/or fantasy.

With Abrams’ name behind it, Alcatraz seems likely to get picked up by one of the major television networks.  Once it does, the question will be whether or not fans are interested in checking out the latest product from Bad Robot or decide to take a pass this time around.

We will keep you up to date on the development of Alcatraz.

Source: Deadline