TNT has acquired the U.S. rights to the British action thriller series “The Lazarus Project,” Warner Bros. Discovery has announced.
The series debuted in the U.K. in June 2022 and was renewed for a second season in August. TNT plans to air the eight-episode first season in early 2023.
“We have a robust slate of exciting new projects in development to give the large, engaged TNT audience a reason to tune-in night after night,” said Kathleen Finch, chairman and chief content officer of Warner Bros. Discovery’s US Networks Group. “Acquiring the U.S. rights to ‘The Lazarus Project,’ a series that already has a strong following in the UK, gave us a runway to reset TNT’s scripted and unscripted development filters and quickly deliver fresh content for fans of big, scripted drama.”
“The Lazarus Project” will be the first new scripted series to air on TNT since the closing of the merger between WB and Discovery. Given company CEO David Zaslav’s promise to the company’s shareholders to find $3 billion in savings, most scripted development at TNT as well as TBS and truTV has been on hold. According to sources, Finch and the networks are still in the market for scripted series but at a much lower cost basis than previous shows on the networks. To that end, a number of TBS shows were scrapped in recent months, while it was also announced that the fourth season of TNT’s “Snowpiercer” would be its last.
“The Lazarus Project” is produced by Urban Myth Films and was acquired from NBCUniversal Distribution Group on behalf of Sky Studios. The official logline states that the show “follows George, the latest recruit to The Lazarus Project – a secret organization that has harnessed the ability to turn back time whenever the world is at the threat of extinction. George and his colleagues are the few people on Earth with the ability to remember the events that are undone when time goes back. But when a freak accident harms someone close to George, Lazarus won’t let him turn back time to undo it unless there is the threat of global extinction. Now George must choose to stay loyal or go rogue as he faces the question of: if you had the power to re-write your past, what would you sacrifice to do it?”
The series stars Paapa Essiedu, Anjli Mohindra, Tom Burke, Caroline Quentin, Rudi Dharmalingam, and Charly Clive. Joe Barton wrote all eight episodes and serves as executive producer along with Julian Murphy and Johnny Capps. Gabriel Silver Paul Gilbert executive produce for Sky Studios. Urban Myth Films produces the show in association with Sky Studios.
