FX greenlights Homeland producers’ drama

US cable channel FX has given a series order to a Middle East-set drama from Homeland writers Howard Gordon and Gideon Raff and Six Feet Under’s Craig Wright.

Tyrant will tell the story of a quiet American family drawn into the workings of turbulent Middle Eastern nation. Adam Rayner, Jennifer Finnigan and Ashraf Barhom are among those in the ensemble cast.

“With Tyrant, Howard Gordon, Gideon Raff and Craig Wright have produced a beautiful television pilot that will be a groundbreaking television series,” said FX Networks CEO John Landgraf.

“Tyrant introduces characters and a world that have never been explored in a dramatic television series format. There is a reason a bidding war broke out over this project: it grabs you as all great epics do and simply refuses to let go.”

Production on a minimum 10-part series begins in Tel Aviv in March, with the series slated for debut next summer. David Yates is directing the pulot, which Raff is writing. Gordon’s Teakwood Lane is producing in association with Keshet Broadcasting.

Raff and Gordon are executive producers alongside Wright.