This week, we’re going to see trailers for the upcoming Alcatraz series appear during prime-time shows.
Here’s the longer of the two spots – the other is 15 seconds shorter, and simply cuts a couple moments out of this one.
The basic premise of the show is that all of the prisoners who were supposedly transferred out of the famous prison when it closed were actually transported years into the future – and have begun appearing in our timeline.
A special team which seems to consist of a former Alcatraz guard, an FBI agent, and an Alcatraz hobbyist, have to figure out what they’re up to (probably by investigating the crimes that originally got them into the prison), and stop them before they hurt too many people. At the same time, they will be trying to determine why all of this is happening.
Of course, the big-mystery theme is not new, as we saw it most popularly used in LOST, the show which sparked the glut of big-mystery series currently on TV. Still, what’s particularly interesting here is that Fox decided to tie the mystery in so closely with an actual historical location.
The spot makes the show look really intriguing and it seems like Sam Neill’s role is going to be bigger than I was originally expecting. As a well-respected actor in big Hollywood films, it’s surprising to see him take a role like this, but will undoubtedly be a great boost to the show, and if nothing else, the presence of Neil and LOST alum Jorge Garcia will pull a huge audience to the pilot.
In addition to Neill and Garcia, the pilot stars Sarah Jones, Jonny Coyne, Jason Butler, Parminder Nagra, Santiago Cabrera and Robert Forster, and is directed by Danny Cannon.
Recently, we learned that a few scenes from the first seven episodes are being reworked and reshot, but Alcatraz is still on schedule to begin after the new year on Fox.
