Amazon today announced that it has greenlit original one-hour Neo-Victorian fantasy Carnival Row to series. The eight-episode Amazon Original Series will be produced by Legendary Television and written and executive produced by showrunner Rene Echevarria (pictured, Star Trek, Teen Wolf, Castle, Medium). Joining Echevarria is Paul McGuigan (Victor Frankenstein, Luke Cage, Sherlock) who is set to direct and executive produce, and Travis Beacham (Pacific Rim, Clash of the Titans), who will serve as executive producer and wrote the original script, “A Killing on Carnival Row,” which appeared on the very first installment of the Hollywood Blacklist in 2005.
Carnival Row is a fantasy-noir set in a neo-Victorian city. Mythical creatures fleeing their war-torn homeland have gathered in the city, and tensions are simmering between citizens and the growing immigrant population. We follow the investigation of a string of unsolved murders which are eating away at whatever uneasy peace still exists.
“There has never been a series like Carnival Row before,” said Joe Lewis, Head of Comedy, Drama and VR, Amazon Studios. “The scope of the storytelling combined with the uniqueness of the world, themes and aesthetics haven’t been on TV before. A simple police investigation will lead us down a remarkable journey in a world where humans and creatures co-exist. We’re so excited about what Rene, Travis and Paul are creating and we can’t wait to bring it to customers.”
“Carnival Row is inspiringly ambitious,” said Lauren Whitney, President of Scripted Television at Legendary, “and timely in a way that we never could have anticipated. We are thrilled to have excellent partners at Amazon, and the infinitely talented trio of Echevarria, McGuigan and Beacham as the driving force behind this show.”
The series is scheduled to begin filming in the fall of 2018 for a 2019 release.
Rene Echevarria was most recently an Executive Producer on Teen Wolf and prior to that, was an Executive Producer on Terra Nova. Additional executive producing credits include Medium and Dark Angel. He also co-created the critically-acclaimed USA series The 4400. Echevarria comes out of the Star Trek camp having worked on Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Next Generation.
