NBC Prepping ‘Traffic’-Like Thriller Pilot (Exclusive)

A day after opening the 2013-14 TV season, NBC has ordered its first pilot for the 2014-15 season.

The network has picked up to pilot Odyssey, a Traffic-like thriller from The Following writers Adam Armus and Kay Foster to be executive produced and penned by Peter Horton, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.

The drama centers on three families who are torn apart when a stranded female soldier, a disillusioned corporate attorney and a disrespected political activist are pulled into the same shocking international military conspiracy.

PHOTOS: Faces of Fall TV 2013

Horton, Foster and Armus will co-write the pilot and executive produce alongside Horton (thirtysomething, Grey’s Anatomy). Horton will direct the pilot and write selected episodes if the drama is ordered to series. The project hails from Universal Television, Fabrik Entertainment and Red Arrow Entertainment Group. Fabrik’s Mikkel Bondesen (The Killing) and Kristen Campo, who worked together on The Killing, will also executive produce alongside Simon Maxwell (Off the Hook) and Henrik Bastin (My Generation).

Odyssey marks Horton’s latest pilot directing gig. Of the nine he’s overseen, seven have gone to series — including NBC’s Ironside. His credits also include helming Dirty Sexy Money, The Philanthropist and Deception. He earned a Golden Globe and PGA Award for his work on Grey’s Anatomy, where he also served as an executive producer. The drama falls under Horton’s two-year overall deal with Universal, which he inked in 2011.

Horton is repped by UTA and Hansen Jacobson; Armus, Foster, Fabrik and Red Arrow are with WME.

Odyssey marks NBC’s first pilot order for the 2014-15 broadcast season and the second drama overall, joining Fox’s Ben Affleck-produced entry The Middle Man. On the comedy side, Fox has already ordered a comedy from Tina Fey, Matt Hubbard and Robert Carlock to series and CBS is redeveloping The McCarthys and its Jim Gaffigan half-hour.

E-mail: Lesley.Goldberg@THR.com
Twitter: @Snoodit