Gillian Anderson, Rachael Taylor to Star in NBC's Rand Ravich Drama

Getty Images

Gillian Anderson and Rachael Taylor

NBC has found two leading ladies for its untitled drama thriller pilot from Rand Ravich.

our editor recommends

TV Pilots 2013: The Complete Guide to What Lives, Dies and Still Has a Pulse

'X-Files' Star Gillian Anderson Heads to NBC's 'Hannibal'

The X Files' Gillian Anderson and 666 Park Avenue's Rachael Taylor have been tapped to star in the drama from Ravich (Life), The Hollywood Reporter has learned.

PHOTOS: The Faces of Pilot Season 2013

The conspiracy drama centers on an unlikely puppeteer who will bring everyone from CEOs to the president of the United States to their knees by threatening the things they hold most dear. 

Anderson will play Meg Fitch, the CEO of a conglomerate. She's horrified to learn of the mass abduction of her daughter Amber and her private-school classmates. Long estranged from her sister, Agent Susie Dunn (Taylor), with whom she shares a shocking secret that explains their alienation, Meg will use her own intelligence and judgment to do whatever it takes to get her daughter back.

STORY: TV Pilots 2013: The Complete Guide

Dunn is the highly trained and dedicated FBI agent who is the point person of the kidnapping case. Determined to get to the bottom of the crisis, she'll re-establish ties with her sister Meg, whom she hasn't spoken with for years.

Ravich will pen the pilot and executive produce the 20th Television drama alongside Far Shariat. Stevie Lynn Jones co-stars as one of the students.

For Anderson, the casting comes after news broke late last year that she'd board NBC's upcoming Hannibal drama for a multiple-episode guest arc. Since The X-Files ended its run in 2002, Anderson has been a regular on British television and most recently co-starred in Encore's miniseries Moby Dick. She's repped by CAA, Untitled and Ziffren Brittenham.

Repped by WME, Taylor's credits include Charlie's Angels and an arc on Grey's Anatomy. She becomes the second 666 Park cast member to book a new gig following the ABC drama's cancellation last year. Her former onscreen husband, Dave Annable, will co-star in NBC's comedy Joe, Joe and Jane.

Email: Lesley.Goldberg@thr.com; Twitter: @Snoodit