Fox is sticking with the tried-and-true formula in their first pickups for the fall season. Today the network announced series orders for 24: Legacy, a spinoff of the Jack Bauer drama that was once so successful for Fox, and Star, a new series about a girl singing trio from Empire co-creator Lee Daniels.
Legacy will utilize the same, single-day per season format, and will still be focused on terrorism but otherwise the show features a new cast that should give it a fresh feel. Corey Hawkins (Straight Outta’ Compton, The Walking Dead) stars as a military hero who finds that trouble has followed him back to the U.S. He turns to CTU for protection and help stopping a large-scale terror attack. Miranda Otto, Jimmy Smits, and Dan Bucatinsky will also star.
Here’s Hawkins in Straight Outta’ Compton:
Variety reports that although Keifer Sutherland is on board as an executive producer he will not appear in the show. He joins the rest of 24’s original producers, Evan Katz, Manny Coto, Howard Gordon, and Brian Grazer. Katz and Coto will act as showrunners.
Grazer is also a producer on Fox’s other pickup, Star, a drama set in Atlanta focused on three girls who form a band and navigate the music industry as they rise to the top. Where Empire has explored the business side of the music industry, Star will come from the artist’s point of view.
Three relatively new talents were cast as the leads after a nationwide search; Jude Demorest (Dallas), Ryan Destiny (A Girl Like Grace), and Brittany O’Grady (The Messengers) will star as the trio. Queen Latifah and Benjamin Bratt are series regulars and Lenny Kravitz has been announced as a guest star.
Though the series hails from Lee Daniels, who co-created Empire, and is set in the music world it is not an Empire spinoff. But still, could Cookie show up on Star? There has been no mention yet about crossover potential for the series’, but the creative team has to be thinking about it. In fact, it could be helpful in sustaining two very similar shows, as proven by other networks. ABC managed to program two medical dramas back-to-back for six seasons with Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice, and NBC is continuing to see success with the very similar Chicago Med, Chicago Fire, and Chicago P.D. Those series’ make no effort to hide their connections or shy away from crossover stories when it makes sense.
As they scramble to fill the hole left by the departure of American Idol Fox seems to be banking on familiarity. They’ve had luck so far with their successful event series revival of The X-Files this winter, and their Prison Break continuation is scheduled for this fall.