“Harry Potter” fans might find TNT and Amblin’s new pilot order quite familiar as the network taps fan favorite Joe Johnston (Captain America: The First Avenger, The Rocketeer) to helm the inaugural episode of “Lumen,” which features a successful female fantasy author sucked into a magical world.
According to Deadline, “Lumen” will center on a “famous author of a best-selling series of fantasy books who suddenly disappears, and a family of four finds themselves transported to the mystical alternate world that inspired her work. Once there, they are plunged into the middle of a war raging between rival magical forces, of light and darkness. Facing peril at every turn, the family must unravel a complicated mystery and uncover some astonishing secrets as they struggle to find their way home.”
Sounds like a very meta version of J.K. Rowling’s life turned into an episodic TV show. Count us in. “Lumen” is hoping to join TNT’s adventurous Saturday night lineup that currently includes Amblin’s “Falling Skies” and Michael Bay’s “The Last Ship.” The pilot was penned by Chris Black (“Mad Men”) and is executive produced by Amblin Television co-presidents Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey, Full Fathom Five’s James Frey and Todd Cohen, as well as Johnston and Black.
Those with a long memory will also recall Joe Johnston’s 1994 dud The Pagemaster, which also featured a boy getting sucked into the fantasy world of a few fictional books.
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