Lucy Clarke's 'The Castaways' to Join 'No Escape' on Paramount+

Despite the WGA strike, Paramount+ is continuing with announcing projects heading into production. The latest, which the American production studio will make exclusively under its U.K. arm (and therefore with the WGGB, which is not on strike), is The Castaways, based on British author Lucy Clarke's best-selling novel. It is the second drama series commissioned from Clarke's work for Paramount+, joining the previously announced No Escape. It is part of the streaming service's efforts to beef up its international slate since Paramount+'s debut in the U.K.

The new series will adapt Clarke's 2020 bestseller, in which a plane crash forever changes two sisters' lives. Sheridan Smith (Four Lives) and Céline Buckens (Showtrial) are set to play sisters, Lori and Erin, respectively. The series is being adapted by Ben Harris (Young Wallander), who executive produces with Mike Benson of U.K. producer Clapperboard Studios, which regularly makes shows for both Paramount+ and U.K. broadcaster Channel 5. (Parent company Paramount also owns Channel 5.) Filming is set to kick off on location in Greece and Fiji in June, with directors Andy and Ryan Tohill (Dagliesh) set to helm all episodes.

Here's the show's official synopsis: