LA Screenings 2014: Spanish deal for Halle Berry series Extant

Spanish free-to-air broadcast group Atresmedia has snagged local rights to buzzy upcoming US drama Extant.

The series stars Halle Berry as an astronaut returning to earth and starts on CBS in the US on July 9.

The US broadcast networks gave it a straight to series order for its summer schedule in the same way it did, with success, with another sci-fi series, Under the Dome.

Both are produced by CBS Television Studios and Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment. Spielberg exec produces the new series.

Spain’s Atresmedia also took Under the Dome (La Cúpula locally), which went out on its flagship Antena 3 channel. It will now have the follow-up series, which like its predecessor, runs to thirteen episodes.

Extant is distributed by CBS Studios International, which announced the Spanish deal in the week of the ongoing LA Screenings.

Speaking to TBI about Extant in February, showrunner Greg Walker said: “It’s really a story of a family we can all relate to. It’s an intriguing vision of the future in which the problems are very much the problems of today – staying connected with family in an advanced world.”

The series’ writer Mickey Fisher added: “It’s high-concept but the core of it is about one extraordinary family at the epicentre of these massive changes happening to the Earth. The family is a microcosm: if they survive, humanity survives. That’s something people relate to – they’re going root for this family and they’re going to root for Halle Berry.”