AMC okays Terror anthology drama

US basic cable net AMC has given the greenlight to The Terror, an anthology series based on a best-selling novel from Dan Simmons.

The series, set in 1847, follows a Royal Naval expedition crew searching for the Northwest Passage that is attacked by a mysterious monster and become embroiled in a desperate game of survival.

Scott Free, Emjag Productions and Entertainment 360 are coproducing the series in association with AMC Studios, the production wing of AMC Networks.

Executive producers are Ridley Scott and David Zucker (The Good Wife, The Man in the High Castle) from Scott Free, Alexandra Milchan (The Wolf of Wall Street) and Scott Lambert (Paranoia) from Emjag, and Guymon Casady (Game of Thrones) from Entertainment 360, which is the content arm of LA’s Management 360. David Kajganich is writer and co-showrunner, along with Soo Hugh.

The Terror will run to ten episodes, and is expected to launch on The Walking Dead network AMC in 2017. AMC put the show into development in 2013.

“We’ve been focused on developing this incredible story for television with these great partners for a couple of years, and we think it provides rich dramatic material but also an opportunity to explore the anthology format, which is something we’re extremely interested in and offers some unique possibilities,” said Joel Stillerman, president of original programming and development for AMC and its sister net, SundanceTV.

“Originality is still something that gets our attention every day, and the very unique mixing of historical non-fiction with a gripping and imaginative science fiction overlay in Dan’s novel is something that we hadn’t seen before.”