Everybody says we're in a new golden age of television, but what's coming next? What exciting new series is looming on the horizon? What pilot will earn the next cult following and clever hashtaggery on Twitter? Here is our list of all the science fiction and fantasy TV shows that are filming pilots.
Top image: Twelve Monkeys.
FOX
Gotham
The adventures of Young Jim Gordon (played by The OC's dreamy Ben McKenzie) is 100% coming to television (it has a series order and a rather large cast). Besides Gordon, the TV show will also star a sad young Bruce Wayne (reeling from the recent death of his parents), Detective Harvey Bullock (played by Donal Logue), The Penguin (young), Alfred, and more. We have so many feelings about this show, which could be either Gotham Central or Gotham Babiez, we're not sure which yet.
Last Man on Earth
Our favorite creators Phil Lord and Chris Miller' (The LEGO Movie, Clone High, HIMYM, 21 Jump Street, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs) are returning to the small screen. There's not a lot of news on the show, other than it's already been picked up for a series and is a single-camera comedy about the last man on Earth. Right now it's being called a "single-lead show." And also no, sorry this is not based on Y: The Last Man.
Queen of Everything
The Office meets Once Upon A Time. This half-hour animated comedy is being produced by Zooey Deschanel and Sophia Rossi. The premise: "running a Queendom isn't easy when you have no people skills and everyone hates you. With the help of her staff, she'll try to change her ways." Again, this could really go one way or the other. Is the TV audience at a fairytale saturation point yet? We shall see. (Also, we should point out we're not sure if this show has an official pilot order yet but we're getting the feeling that it may).
Hieroglyph
Already got a series order! Penned by Travis Beacham, the writer of Pacific Rim, this show will be set in ancient Egypt and feature Gods and Goddesses, and is centered around "a notorious thief who is plucked from prison to serve the Pharoah." So, a comedy?
ABC
Clementine
Another sexy supernatural psychic TV series, starring Jesus from True Blood. Here's the official synopsis: "It centers on troubled 28-year-old psychic Clementine Ross (Sarah Snook) who sees her life begin to change in unexpected ways when she decides to stop running from her past. Alejandro will play Charlie Madsen, Clementine's ex-boyfriend and father to her young daughter, Lucy, a former bad-boy who transformed into a responsible man when he realized he was going to have to raise Lucy on his own due to Clementine's personal struggles." And various people are chasing after Clementine, because they think she could either save the world, or destroy it.
The Visitors
The aliens are here and they are coming after our children! Big, awesome names attached to this series. Based on a Ray Bradbury short story and directed by Mark Romanek (well at least just the pilot for now). Fingers crossed we'll get to see this series (unlike Romanek's ill fated, but gorgeous, Locke & Key). Here's the premise, it's a "race against the clock to defeat an unseen alien enemy out to destroy the world using our most precious resource against us. OUR CHILDREN".
Forever
Another medical/science drama with a supernatural twist. Forever follows an immortal medical examiner in New York City, who examines dead people to learn about death. So like all the side characters from Law & Order, except with the ability to live forever!
NBC
Constantine
We've been asking for a Hellblazer TV series for years and years. Even after Keanu charmed us with his movie version (also titled Constantine) which was loosely inspired by the Vertigo comics). And now our dreams are coming true and with the best possible people. Neil Marshall, director of Game of Thrones' "Blackwater" and The Descent will be directing the pilot. However we don't have any news (yet) on who shall be playing the all-important title role. Casting sides are also looking for "Chas" Chandler plus two other supporting characters, Liv and Manny.
Odyssey
According to Deadline, this conspiracy thriller follows three families who are ripped apart "when a stranded female soldier (Anna Friel), a disillusioned corporate attorney (Facinelli), and a disrespected political activist (Jake Robinson) are pulled into the same shocking international military conspiracy." Sounds like good, clean paranoid government fun.
Babylon Fields
For seven years we've been reading about this project — but now it's finally filming a pilot, starring Megan Good. It's a zombie series that's set in a town where the infected masses start to return.
Tin Man
Starring Vondie Curtis-Hall (Broken Arrow, Die Hard 2) this near future series follows a robot Adam Sentry (Gossip Girl'sPatrick Heusinger) who has been accused of the murder of his creator. Curtis-Hall is Detective Jack Garrison, the man brought back in from retirement to solve this crime. Curtis-Hall is the young defender who has to save the android, which could be the next leap in human evolution.
Emerald City
From Terminator: SCC producer Josh Friedman, Emerald City is already good to go for the spring of 2015. And yes, if you couldn't tell from the title, it's a re-imagining of Oz. But this time it's pulling more form the original 14 books by Baum which includes a lot more death and war, inspired by Game of Thrones.
The CW
iZombie
Rob Thomas (Veronica Mars) has a new show! And it sounds just as cute/gruesome as his past work, based on the Vertigo comic. THR revealed the synopsis here: "First off as opposed to being a gravedigger, Gwen will be med student/zombie who gets a coroner's office gig to maintain her humanity via eating brains. Of course a side effect of the brain eating means that Gwen experiences their memories and has to solve their murders in order to get their voices out of her head."
The Messengers
Alien apcocalypse! An object falls to Earth and a group of strangers (all unconnected) die because of a strange energy pulse. But then they awaken, and now the rest of humanity wants to blame them for the oncoming apocalypse. Clearly a "don't kill the messengers" riff. This is the vaguest description we've seen but other news outlets have referred to the victims as angels (which would also jive with the messenger title).
The Flash (spinoff from Arrow)
You've met Barry Allen in Arrow, and now he's getting his own superhero spinoff series. David Nutter is directing the pilot. Jesse L. Martin plays Barry's mentor Detective West, the father of her love interest Iris (Candice Patton). Villains include Killer Frost and Professor Zoom — plus the minor-league hero Vibe is also going to appear. Also appearing: original TV flash John Wesley Shipp, in an unspecified role.
Supernatural: Tribes (spinoff from Supernatural)
Supernatural will be airing this backdoor pilot as the 20th episode of this season of Supernatural. It features the tension between different groups of monsters and monster hunters in Chicago.
AMC
Preacher
The long wait is over. Preacher is officially becoming a television series (which is the proper way to do this long religious epic). AMC has tapped Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg (This is the End) and Breaking Bad's Sam Catlin to cull together a pilot. The comic (created by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon) follows Jesse Custer, a Preacher. Jesse is on a mission to find God (who has fled heaven for unknown reasons). In search of the higher power Jesse hits the road with his lady friend Tulip and Cassidy the Billy Idol-looking vampire who loves drugs. This is a fantastic and ridiculously gruesome comic. It will be a wonderful compliment to Walking Dead.
Syfy
DMZ
Syfy has ordered a pilot based on the beloved Brian Wood comic. Here's the Amazon rundown on this long horrific story. It follows a "war journalist trapped in a most unlikely war zone: the streets of New York City. In the near future, America's worst nightmare has come true. With military adventurism overseas bogging down the Army and National Guard, the U.S. government mistakenly neglects the very real threat of anti-establishment militias scattered across the 50 states. Like a sleeping giant, Middle America rises up and violently pushes its way to the shining seas, coming to a standstill at the line in the sand - Manhattan or, as the world now knows it, the DMZ. Matty Roth, a naive young man and aspiring photojournalist, lands a dream gig following a veteran war journalist into the heart of the DMZ. Things soon go terribly wrong, and Matty finds himself lost and alone in a world he's only seen on television. There, he is faced with a choice: try to find a way off the island, or make his career with an assignment most journalists would kill for. But can he survive in a war zone long enough to report the truth?" Please don't suck. Please don't suck. Please don't suck. Please don't suck.
12 Monkeys
Based on Terry Gilliam's film we're banking on this series elevating Syfy back up to its former glory as a bad-ass scifi drama-maker (please, please please). Charlie from Fringe (Kirk Acevedo) will play the role of Ramse, and Nikita's Aaron Stanford will play the part of time-traveling future savior of man Cole.
Lifetime
The Lottery
Set in a dystopian future where women have stopped having babies, The Lottery is an actual lottery of 100 successfully fertilized embryos. The selected women will then become surrogates and hopefully begin repopulating the human race. If all goes as planned, but when does it? Love this wacky scifi series Lifetime is going after, sounds nuts (in a good way). And they've ordered 10 whole episodes so it sounds like we'll get a bit of time with it.
TNT
Proof
A supernatural medical drama centered around a no-nonsense doctor who is forced to explore the possibility of life after death via ghosts, reincarnation, out-of-body experiences and all that good stuff. It sounds like they finally gave Scully a series.
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