Skeet Ulrich Takes Dual Roles For NBC’s Undead Drama Babylon Fields
This article is more than 2 years old
While Skeet Ulrich survived the untimely cancellation of Jericho, which is in eterna-talks for a revival, his career hasn’t produced anything as memorable in the years since. That could all change soon with his next project, as he’ll be headed back to television in NBC’s upcoming contemplative drama Babylon Fields, which sounds like one of the more interesting projects that might hit the airwaves later this year.
The project, from 20th Century Fox and creator Gerald Cuesta (Roadie), takes place in Babylon, New York, where the dead begin to rise from the grave. But rather than using this story to tell yet another tale of rotting and bloodthirsty zombies, the undead of Babylon Fields will feature people whose bodies are actually regenerating, growing stronger and healing faster. Thus begins the debate over whether or not this is the next step in human evolution. Can you imagine if you would need to die first in order to come back as a more perfect specimen? It would provide the Internet with even more grisly images and videos for like-minded people to get grossed out by.
Ulrich will play not one character, but identical twins. As Father Harries, he’ll portray a local priest who is taken aback when his brother Graham returns from the dead, no longer the junkie he was when still alive. Interesting enough, I’d say. The pilot will also star Deception actress Meagan Good as an edgy local doctor named Janine.
Though the plot sounds something like the French series The Returned, this was actually conceived and shot as a pilot for CBS back in 2007. Perhaps it’s no surprise that the script-writing Cuesta was also behind that iteration, as was his brother Michael, who will be back to direct this version as well. If you’d like to know what that pilot looked like, you can check out the first part below, with the second two parts available from the same user.
Just last year, Ulrich worked with Fox on the Howard Gordon-created drama Anatomy of Violence, but that was passed over. Last seen regularly on Law & Order: L.A., he’s in Jim Wilson’s upcoming western drama 50 to 1 and he’s currently filming Will Raee’s fake kidnapping comedy Lost in Austin with Craig Robinson and Kristen Schaal. He’s also set to star in Dale Dye’s war drama Citizen Soldiers, whenever that goes into production.
There’s no word on when this pilot is looking to go into production, but there’s probably a tad more casting to work out before that happens anyway. I’m waiting for a huge name to jump on board, someone who wouldn’t normally let themselves get involved with a zombie drama.
