Ryan Phillippe To Headline CBS’ Frankenstein Pilot ‘Alive’, Katrina Law & Aaron Staton Also Star
Former Shooter star Ryan Phillippe has been tapped as the lead in CBS’ drama pilot Alive (fka Frankenstein). Katrina Law (The Oath) and Aaron Staton (Mad Men) are set as co-leads in the project, a modern interpretation of the classic Frankenstein tale in a cop procedural setting.
Written/executive produced by Jason Tracey and directed/executive produced by Uta Briesewitz, Alive centers on Mark Escher (Phillippe), a San Francisco homicide detective who’s mysteriously brought back to life after being killed in the line of duty. But as he resumes his old life and he and his wife Elizabeth (Law) realize he isn’t the same person he used to be, they zero in on the strange man behind his resurrection: Dr. Victor Frankenstein (Staton).
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Phillippe’s Escher, a San Francisco police investigator, was presumed dead after an attack and destructive fire at his home. Six months later, he shockingly reappears and is reunited with his wife, Elizabeth. But something has changed. A shadow has fallen across his sunny disposition, and he’s haunted by visions of the case he was working on when he died. He and Elizabeth will seek answers about who shot and abducted him, and what was done to him.
Law’s Elizabeth Lavenza, a pathologist/medical examiner, is stunned when her husband returns from the dead, and though she’s thrilled to have him back, she knows there’s a secret behind his disappearance, his reappearance and his new personality – and she thinks she knows exactly who’s responsible.
Staton’s Victor Frankenstein is a brilliant, slightly odd and driven – perhaps obsessed – scientist who is working on a secret, cutting-edge project. On the run from an ethics board in China, Victor is back in the U.S., where he works in a lab and is very involved in whatever it is that’s going on with Escher. He’s also Escher’s wife’s ex.
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Elementary creator Rob Doherty executive produces the pilot from CBS TV Studios.
Phillippe most recently starred as the lead in USA’s series Shooter, which aired for three seasons. This would mark his second broadcast series following ABC’s anthology Secrets & Lies, whose first installment he headlined. His credits also include such films as The Lincoln Lawyer, Stop-Loss, Breach, Flags of Our Fathers and Crash as well as the FX drama series Damages. Phillippe is repped by WME, MGMT Entertainment and Sloane Offer.
Law just completed starring for two seasons in Sony Crackle’s The Oath, alongside Sean Bean and Ryan Kwanten. Prior to that, she was the female lead in the CBS series Training Day, so this marks her return to the network. Law also starred in indie features Apparition, Death Valley, Zeroes and Darkness Rising. She is repped by Innovative Artists Agency and Joel Stevens Entertainment.
Staton is best known for his longtime role as ad man Ken Cosgrove on the hit AMC series Mad Men. He currently can be seen in the Netflix drama Narcos: Mexico. He also recently appeared as the lead in the BBC drama My Mother and Other Strangers, as well as a recurring arc in Showtime’s Ray Donovan. Staton is repped by APA and LINK Entertainment.
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