NBC Greenlights Western Drama 'Frontier'

NBC is saddling up for a Western.

The network has ordered to pilot The Frontier, one of a handful of Western projects at various stages of development at NBC.

The projects, set in the 1840s, centers on a group that follows their dreams and heads west from Missouri across the uncharted country.

Cold Case executive producer Shaun Cassidy will executive produce the project, with Prospect Park's Jeff Kwatinetz and Josh Barry along with The West Wing’s Thomas Schlamme, who will direct the pilot. The project hails from Sony Pictures Television.

Last summer, NBC ordered a script from Universal Television and Friday Night Lights producers Pete Berg and Liz Heldens described as a Western story told from a female point of view.

Among the other Western efforts in development at the networks: ABC has David Zabel’s Gunslinger and CBS has James Mangold’s Ralph Lamb.