“UNSUB” hit shelves this June, and the crime story is already serving as inspiration for the small screen. CBS has bought a drama based on Meg Gardiner’s novel with Emmy nominee Liz Friedman (“Orange Is the New Black”) attached to pen a pilot script, Deadline reports.
The book centers on a female detective tracking down an infamous serial killer — “inspired by the still-unsolved Zodiac case — who breaks his silence and begins killing again,” the source writes. “The detective, who grew up watching her father destroy himself and his family as he chased the killer, now finds herself confronting the same monster her father never caught. The series will feature the lead character pursuing other UNSUBs (UNknown SUBjects, a law enforcement term used for suspects in a criminal investigation) as part of the NYPD’s elite homicide division.”
Friedman and Gardiner are among the project’s executive producers, and the former will serve as showrunner. She most recently co-created ABC’s Hayley Atwell-led legal drama “Conviction,” which was cancelled after a season. Her other credits include “Jessica Jones,” “House,” and “Xena: Warrior Princess.”
“Into the Black Nowhere,” the second book in Gardiner’s “UNSUB” series, is expected to be published early next year. Her other books include the Jo Beckett series, “Ransom River,” and “The Shadow Tracer.”
CBS received some well-deserved bad press this year due to the lack of women-centric series on their fall schedule.
