By Jack Giroux/June 7, 2016 7:00 am EST
Deadline broke the story regarding these five projects. Let’s start with Carnival Row – a pilot del Toro will direct. Here’s the plot summary we reported back in 2011:
The story may have evolved over the years, as it’s now a series. It was previously reported del Toro would co-write the pilot with Beacham and René Echevarria (The 4400), but now Deadline says Echevarria alone wrote the first episode. Gary Ungar, who works with del Toro on The Strain, will produce Carnival Row.
Strange New Things is another pilot ordered that has another notable director involved. Filmmaker Kevin Macdonald (Black Sea) is attached to the adaptation of Michel Faber’s The Book of Strange New Things, a science-fiction love story about an English pastor who travels into deep space. Musician Brian Eno will write the score.
Next up is another period piece, Tropicana, written and executive produced by Rachel Abramowitz (Klondike) and one of the screenwriters behind Sam Raimi’s Darkman, Josh Goldin. The show focuses on a Tropicana Night Club in pre-revolutionary Cuba. Deadline speculates the series involves “the mob, Batista loyalists, Castro revolutionaries and the American CIA.”
Last but not least is The Legend of Master Legend, based on Joshua Bearman’s 2008 Rolling Stone article of the same name. The article is about Master Legend, a real-life superhero who drives “a 1986 Nissan pickup with a missing rear window and ‘ML’ spray-painted on the hood.” Transparent’s Micah Fitzerman-Blue and Noah Harpster are executive producing the pilot, which they co-wrote.
