Quantico

 September 27^th, ABC

In the present, Alex Parrish (Priyanka Chopra) along with her fellow new FBI recruits enter the Quantico training base. Flash-forward to the future where a terrorist attack on America has just taken place and Alex Parrish is the primary suspect. The only way to prove her innocence is by finding evidence to prove that the real terrorist mole was someone else from her FBI recruit class. The series will employ a very similar timeline thread to tie a Quantico recruit story with Alex Parrish determining if they are the mole, or not; very similar to the plot device used in How to Get Away with Murder.

Hopefully, Priyanka Chopra can deliver this fall and her character Alex Parrish can join the ABC leading lady character ranks alongside, Annalise Keating (Viola Davis), Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington), and Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo). Earlier this summer Varitey reported that CW alum Rick Cosnet has joined the show as a recurring character. He will play Elias Harper, a defense attorney recruited by Alex Parrish in the future. The first season will air its thirteen-episode run on ABC this fall and the producers promise to reveal the terrorist’s identity in the finale.

To watch the Quantico trailer click here

The Man in the High Castle

November 20^th, Amazon

Based on Philip K. Dick’s alternate history novel, about America in the 1960s, if the Axis powers had won World War II. We are introduced to Joe Blake (Luke Kleintank), as a twenty-seven year old New Yorker, who wants to join the resistance. He receives instructions from a resistance leader and begins to make his way to the “neutral zone.” In this version of America the Nazis govern over the land east of the Rockies, while the Japanese rule the over the Pacific states. In the pilot episode we are also introduced to Juliana Crain (Alexa Davalos), who peacefully resides in the Pacific states. Her resolve to remain quietly living in the shadows ends after her sister Trudy gives her a messenger bag and then moments later is killed by Japanese officers. Juliana is so disturbed by the injustice done to her sister that she finds herself on a mission to the man in the high castle. By the end of the episode both Juliana Crain and Joe Blake cross paths on their way to join the resistance, but do they both have the same intentions?

The pilot plays like an extended Twilight Zone episode. The set designers do a great job including disconcerting reminders about the series’ premise, within each set piece. On the surface level it’s a spy thriller set during the 1960s, but the historical fiction twist causes a disturbing ripple effect that resonates with the viewer across the screen.

To watch The Man in the High Castle pilot click here

Containment

January 2016, CW 

Executive Producer Julie Plec, known for mainly the supernatural genre (The Vampire Diaries, The Originals), attempts science fiction with her latest project titled, Containment. The series chronicles a deadly virus outbreak in Atlanta that leads to federal officials setting up a quarantine section of the state.  Families are torn apart as they find themselves on opposite sides of the containment section.   As the virus grows within the Atlanta quarantine section, viewers will observe a decline of society, as these ordinary people become survivalists.

The series features a predominately young cast with David Gyasi (Interstellar), Chris Wood (The Vampire Diaries), KristenGutoskie (Rookie Blue), Christina Marie Moses (Nikita), and newcomer George Young.  During the first season the show will flash back and forth from the present Atlanta quarantine situation with how the outbreak first started.  In true Julie Plec fashion the emphasis will be placed on who these characters become when placed in this situation of duress.

To watch Containment trailer click here

By Sarah Belmont
Featured Writer
@sjbelmont