M. Night Shyamalan developing mystery TV series Wayward Pines for Fox

Last Updated on July 23, 2021

M. Night Shyamalan is taking his dwindling name recognition to television. The writer-director is developing “Wayward Pines” for Fox television. The series is based on the novel PINES by Blake Crouch, and will be along the same lines as “Twin Peaks.”

Here’s the book’s appealing synopsis: Secret service agent Ethan Burke arrives in Wayward Pines, Idaho, with a clear mission: locate and recover two federal agents who went missing in the bucolic town one month earlier. But within minutes of his arrival, Ethan is involved in a violent accident. He comes to in a hospital, with no ID, no cell phone, and no briefcase. The medical staff seems friendly enough, but something feels…off.

As the days pass, Ethan’s investigation into the disappearance of his colleagues turns up more questions than answers. Why can’t he get any phone calls through to his wife and son in the outside world? Why doesn’t anyone believe he is who he says he is? And what is the purpose of the electrified fences surrounding the town? Are they meant to keep the residents in? Or something else out? Each step closer to the truth takes Ethan further from the world he thought he knew, from the man he thought he was, until he must face a horrifying fact—he may never get out of Wayward Pines alive.

Sounds fairly intriguing, and the kind of thing we’d be excited about Shyamalan tackling 12 or so years ago. Does the embattled director still have some juice left in the tank, or is it gone for good?

“Wayward Pines” was written on spec by Chad Hodge (NBC’s “The Playboy Club”) and executive-produced by Shyamalan, Hodge, Donald De Line (GREEN LANTERN) and Ashwin Rajan (AFTER EARTH).