After nearly a decade without a project, Chris Carter has an idea for a new show.
Carter, a screenwriter and occasional actor, got his big break nearly 20 years ago, when a series he created, The X-Files, became a huge success. He worked on that show for 10 seasons, and during that time put three other shows into production only to see them fail. One of them, Millennium, a spin-off from TheX-files, lasted three seasons, but never approached the popularity of his masterpiece.
Since the end of The X-Files in 2002, Carter has helped write a documentary, and claims to have a film screenplay in the works, but otherwise has been sidelined.
Now, however Georgeville Television has announced that Carter is creating a new series for them. The After tells the story of the aftermath of an unexplained event, which must be investigated by some kind of governmental agency. Heavily influenced by The X-Files, the show will be a big-mystery procedural at heart (which is what’s selling right now in the genre television market), with elements of suspense and paranoia.
Sounds like The X-Files – and every show that’s been influenced by The X-Files in the last two decades. I’m sure, when we get more details, it will seem less derivative, though I’m not certain we’re allowed to call someone derivative if they are being inspired by the very works in the genre they defined.
Georgeville CEO, Marc Rosen, has provided a vague (official) summary in the press material: “Chris has woven his mythology magic within a very human, grounded story about the moment when we realize all of our worst fears about the world and its future.”
This isn’t the first veteran creator Georgeville has decided to team up with in the year since the studio was founded. This is the same group who is working with the Matrix creators, the Wachowski siblings, on their new supernatural adventure serial, Sense8, and with Babylon 5 creator, J. Michael Straczynski, on his idea for a procedural serial about a global pandemic, Hunters.
Geaorgeville will be trying to sell The After, along with their other projects, to a major network at this year’s MIPCOM (an event at which studios talk to networks about the shows they want to do). If all goes well, development might kick off in the spring.
