Robert Langdon Drama Nabs NBC Pilot Pickup

NBC is turning to one of best-selling author Dan Brown’s most beloved characters for its next drama.

The network on Wednesday handed out a formal pilot order to Langdon, based on the Robert Langdon character featured in Brown’s thriller The Lost Symbol. The project, which counts the author as an executive producer, revolves around the early adventures of the famed Harvard symbologist who must solve a series of deadly puzzles to save his kidnapped mentor and thwart a global conspiracy.

This will be the first time that the Langdon character has been portrayed by someone other than Tom Hanks, who brought the role to life in the films The Da Vinci Code, Angels & Demons and Inferno.

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Writing partners Dan Dworkin and Jay Beattie (MTV’s Scream, ABC’s Revenge, NBC’s The Event) will pen the script and exec produce the potential series alongside Imagine TV’s Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, Anna Culp and Samie Falvey. Imagine’s feature side executive produced all three of the Brown-based feature films. Langdon is a co-production between CBS TV Studios and Universal Television.

The project was first put into development in June as one of NBC’s first script buys of the season. It received a sizable production commitment at the time. Daniel Cerone (Dexter), who was initially attached to write the script, is no longer involved.

Langdon is NBC’s latest effort to wrap a well-known character into a procedural. This season, the network has Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector, while previous efforts included Taken, The Firm and, to a lesser extent, Hannibal, among others.

Langdon is NBC’s sixth drama pilot order of the season, joining the family dramas At That Age and Ordinary Joe and the sci-fi entries Debris, Echo and La Brea. (Last pilot season, NBC ordered seven dramas.)

Keep track of all of this season’s pilot orders with The Hollywood Reporter‘s handy guide.