TNT Acquires British Drama 'The Lazarus Project' for 2023
Anjli Mohindra as Archie and Paapa Essiedu as George in The Lazarus Project.
(Photo: Sky UK Limited)
Cable network TNT has acquired the rights to buzzy British action thriller The Lazarus Project, which follows the story of a covert team dedicated to preventing mass extinction events by resetting the timeline in which they occur.
The series initially aired in the U.K. back in August and hails from Girl/Haji creator Joe Barton. I May Destroy You breakout Paapa Essiedu stars as George, who is recruited into the mysterious titular group.
The series will be the first new scripted drama to appear on TNT since the April 2022 merger that brought Discovery and WarnerMedia together as Warner Bros. Discovery. The announcement of its acquisition arrives even as many entertainment pundits were predicting that ancillary cable networks like TNT and sister station TBS would likely get out of the scripted drama business altogether and focus on more reality-based programming. (Since the merger, several popular TNT series like Claws and Animal Kingdom have both ended, while its hit adaptation of Snowpiercer is headed into its fourth and final season.)
But, according to the official press release, the acquisition of the high-impact British drama is intended to appeal to broad, thrill-seeking audiences and to complement the network's big-ticket movies and more than 800 hours of sports.
"We have a robust slate of exciting new projects in development to give the large, engaged TNT audience a reason to tune-in night after night," said Kathleen Finch, Chairman, and Chief Content Officer, US Networks Group for Warner Bros. Discovery. "Acquiring the U.S. rights to The Lazarus Project, a series that already has a strong following in the UK, gave us a runway to reset TNT's scripted and unscripted development filters and quickly deliver fresh content for fans of big, scripted drama."
The eight-part series follows George, the latest recruit to The Lazarus Project, a secret organization that has harnessed the ability to turn back time whenever the world is under threat of extinction. George and his colleagues are the few people on Earth with the ability to remember the events that are undone when time goes back. But when a freak accident harms someone close to George, Lazarus won’t let him turn back time to undo it unless there is the threat of global extinction.
Now George must choose to stay loyal or go rogue as he faces the question of: if you had the power to re-write your past, what would you sacrifice to do it? The Lazarus Project explores our desire to take charge of what is beyond our control and is a moving story of love and fate within a gripping action thriller that will keep viewers on the edge of their seats.
Alongside Essiedu, the series stars Anjli Mohindra (The Suspect), Tom Burke (C.B. Strike), Caroline Quentin (The Other One), Rudi Dharmalingam (The Split), and Charly Clive (Pure).
The Lazarus Project doesn't have a U.S. premiere date yet, but the show is expected to arrive in early 2023.
