Amazon making Mena Suvari pilot with Universal

Amazon is making Hysteria, a new one-hour drama starring Mena Suvari (American Beauty).

The pilot will be made by Amazon Studios, Universal Television and Alcon Television, the TV arm of movie producer Alcon Entertainment.

Suvari will play Dr. Logan Harlen, a medic investigating an epidemic that is spreading through her home town of Austin, Texas. Shaun Cassidy (Blue Bloods, Invasion) will write and exec produce the series.

“I can think of no better platform than Amazon to tell a story that explores the price of fear and the very real threat of viral connection becoming contagion,” said Cassidy.

Hysteria joins the previously-announced dramas The Cosmopolitans, Really and Hand of God in Amazon’s upcoming third round of pilots. They will debut later this year on Amazon Instant Video with subscribers allowed to comment and rate them ahead of Amazon deciding which shows it will take to series.

Amazon has already greenlit several comedy and kids shows. On the drama front, it has ordered The After, a mystery thriller from Chris Carter (The X-Files) and Bosch, the crime procedural based on the Michael Connelly book series.