When Deadline ran the Summer Edition of its tradition Pilot Buzz column last week, ABC brass were yet to see some of their off-cycle pilots so information on the status of the five contenders at the network was murky.
Your Complete Guide to Pilots and Straight-to-Series orders
We have more clarity now, and the two strongest early contenders, drama pilots Will Trent, starring Ramon Rodriguez as a Special Agent of the Georgia Bureau of Investigations, and The Company You Keep, headlined by This Is Us star Milo Ventimiglia, both are looking good for a pickup. As we reported, Will Trent had been a standout since early summer and both projects had opened writers rooms so they can hit the ground running in hopes that they would get series orders.
The Untitled Kay Oyegun drama pilot and comedy pilot The Son in Law are not looking very good and probably won’t go forward, though The Son In Law may be rolled to next season for redevelopment, I hear.
Drama pilot Criminal Nature, which was a retooled version of a project that was originally piloted last season, has been pretty quiet, and its status is unclear.
ABC in May picked up to series drama pilot Alaska, starring Hilary Swank, The Rookie planted spinoff, The Rookie: Feds, headlined by Niecy Nash, and comedy pilot Not Dead Yet, starring Gina Rodriguez. The network also gave a straight-to-series order to David E. Kelley’s drama Avalon.
