Upfronts 2012: CW Redeveloping 'Hunger Games'-Esque Pilot 'The Selection'

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Aimee Teegarden

The CW isn't done with The Selection.

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During its upfront presentation to Madsion Avenue buyers in New York, network president Mark Pedowitz announced that the Hunger Games-like drama pilot set in a dystopian future is being redeveloped.

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"We're very high on it," the executive told ad buyers Thursday at New York City Center.

While the pilot, which was among the early front-runners to land a series order at the network lost steam and didn't make the among the network's five pickups, Pedowitz remains high on the project -- and the genre -- and told THR following the session that it could potentially move forward in midseason or summer.

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"We're going to go back in fast and redevelop it and see if we can get it up," he told THR. "I'm a big, big fan of the genre, I read all the Hunger Games books; I wander through the young adult dystopian fiction area quite a bit. If you're not an angel, werewolf or vampire, you're a female heroin who's 16 years old who fights in the future dystopian world."

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Based on the books by Kiera Cass, The Selection is described an epic romance set 300 years in the future which centers on a poor young woman (Friday Night Lights' Aimee Teegarden) who is chosen by lottery to participate in a competition to become the next queen of a war-torn nation at a crossroads. Ethan Peck and Sean Patrick Thomas co-star in the Warner Bros. Television pilot, which was written and exec produced by Elizabeth Craft and Sarah Fain.

Whether or not the project would recast remains to be seen. "We want to go back in and get it right, give it the right tone and get it on the air," Pedowitz said.

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Selection remains a valuable development property for the network, which has found success with The Vampire Diaries, which it developed to take advantage of the Twilight craze. Vampire Diaries currently stands as the CW's top-rated series series.

Also still in development at the network is Supernatural's Eric Kripke's adaptation of DC Comics' Deadman, which centers on the spirit of a trapeze artist, Boston Brand, who is murdered, and continues to live on by inhabiting other people's bodies and helping them resolve conflicts and issues in their lives. Deadman, Pedowitz noted, could potentially be part of the young-skewing network's 2013-14 development cycle.

The CW picked up five dramas to series this season, including DC Comics' Green Arrow adaptation Arrow and a Sex in the City prequel, among others.

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