Fox Greenlights ‘The Passage’ Pilot

According to , Fox has decided to order a pilot for “The Passage“. An adaptation of the bestselling Justin Cronin novel by the same name, the prospective television series would focus on the human race attempting to survive in a post-apocalyptic environment plagued by vampires. Cronin wrote a trilogy of novels based on the premise, with the first beginning things as a government conspiracy/outbreak thriller before changing into more of a horror story. Should the show go to series, the same format will likely be followed.

The project could end up serving as a thematic follow-up to Fox’s recent vampire series, “The Strain“, which will air its final season on FX this summer. That show took a pulpier approach to its own vampire apocalypse tale, whereas “The Passage” is expected to be a bit less operatic in tone. Filmmaker Matt Reeves (Let Me In, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes) will executive produced the series alongside Ridley Scott (Alien, Blade Runner) and David W. Zucker. The pilot itself has been penned by Elizabeth. This is the third genre pilot that Fox has ordered for the 2017-2018 season in the past few weeks, joining Seth MacFarlane’s space opera comedy “Orville” and an untitled X-Men spin-off series.

Vampires have had an up-and-down relationship with television in recent years. “True Blood” lasted for 7 seasons on Showtime and “The Vampire Diaries” will top out at 8 on The CW, but more recent fare hasn’t run as long. The CW’s “The Originals” is unlikely to make it beyond its upcoming fourth season and FX’s aforementioned “The Strain” will end its fourth season this year as well. On top of this, the TV adaptation of Let the Right One In has seemingly died on the developmental vine over at TNT. The only other such program that I am aware of that’s on the way is a television reboot of The Lost Boys for The CW. Looking at the changing tones, it appears that things are finally moving away from the mopier, romantic vampire stylings of the ’00s and back towards the vicious, animalistic takes of yester years. I personally prefer the later, so this is music to my ears and eyes. I’m definitely looking forward to “The Passage“.