Mark-Paul Gosselaar is returning to the Fox TV family. The Pitch star is set to headline the network’s vampire-themed drama pilot The Passage. Additionally, Saniyya Sidney (Hidden Figures), Genesis Rodriguez (Time After Time), Brianne Howey (Scream Queens), BJ Britt (UnREAL) and Jennifer Ferrin (Hell on Wheels) have signed on for series-regular roles in the project.
Based on Justin Cronin’s 2010 New York Times best-seller, The Passage is described as an “epic, character-driven thriller” that transforms into a post-apocalyptic odyssey.
The story is told in two different timelines. The first being the present, in which life as we know it has changed. One night, a frightened 10-year-old Amy (Sidney) runs out of the darkness, chased by terrifying monsters that once were human but now live on human blood and are known as “virals.” A young couple from an isolated group in Palm Springs rescues Amy, who seems to have special powers that allow her to communicate with the virals.
Through flashbacks, Amy then tells her tale, which is directly tied to the genesis of the virals. When her mother died, Amy was left her alone in the world, making her the perfect target for Project Noah, a secret government-funded medical research facility in Colorado which is testing a drug on 12 former death row inmates that turns them into lethal killing machines. In the war against global terrorism, they could become weapons. But, to the researchers’ horror, the drug also unleashes psychic abilities in these test subjects, who are now manipulating their caretakers.
Project Noah’s administrators decide to experiment on a child — a being whose brain is less fully formed — and send FBI agent Brad Wolgast (Gosselaar) to retrieve a grieving Amy from foster care. Despite a tragedy in Wolgast’s past, he and Amy bond as he escorts her to Project Noah. They eventually flee, almost making it to Canada before being caught.
As the story follows Amy both in Colorado and in California, it becomes clear that this young girl may be the key to saving humanity. Gosselaar plays Wolgast, a federal agent still reeling from a recent tragedy that has effectively destroyed his marriage. Although he balks at kidnapping Amy, who has been targeted for the unholy government experiment, he then goes on the run with her, with a veritable army of Feds on his heels.
