Katherine Heigl is eyeing a return to network television with her CIA drama, which has just landed at NBC.
Plans for the project first surfaced in August. It will be written by The Following producer Alexi Hawley and is a crime procedural with Heigl acting as a CIA liaison to the president. At the time, several networks were in contention for the untitled series. However, ABC was likely not interested since the plot is similar to its hit Scandal.
Now, Variety confirmed on Monday that the project will land at NBC. It will be a Universal TV Studios production, with Heigl as an executive producer with Hawley, Robert Simonds, Henry Crumpton, and Julia Franz. Heigl’s mother, Nancy Heigl, will also co-executive produce under their Abishag Productions.
Deadline reports that Heigl said in a statement that she has been “passionate” about the project since she was first approached to do it last year. “The story is not only compelling and intelligent but a look behind the curtain at the CIA we haven’t seen before in film or television,” she said.
Heigl made the jump to movies after starring on Grey’s Anatomy, which she left in 2010. She had expressed interest in going back to that show in 2012, but it never developed.
If the CIA drama goes past the pilot stage, it will air during the 2014-2015 season.
image: NBC