The FOX network announced today that their new series titled The Passage, will have it’s official premiere date during their Winter mid-season, on Monday Jan. 14, at 9/8c. It will be replacing the current time-slot of the procedural drama 9-1-1 .
Without spoiling too much, the TV series’ plot takes place during the same time a botched U.S. government experiment turns a group of death row inmates into highly infectious vampires. While notably, one sole orphan girl is the only person able to stop the ensuing crisis.
The Passage main focus will follow federal agent Brad Wolgast’s (Mark-Paul Gosselaar ) difficulties in bringing that very same young girl (Saniyya Sidney) to a secret medical facility successfully. There, scientists are working on creating a virus that acts as a cure of sorts for all known diseases. Henry Ian Cusick, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Brianne Howey, and Jamie McShane join as the supporting cast.
Justin Cronin’s novel the series is based on, begins in the near future as well and details the initial chaotic outbreak. And later the world’s post-apocalyptic aftermath, where everything is overran by vampire-like monsters who are infected by the highly contagious virus.
But unlike the series, the novel takes place in 2016 and spans more than ninety years, as humanity’s last remaining survivors attempt to live in a world filled with superhuman creatures who are continually on the hunt for their blood. A similar premise to the feature film Daybreakers.
The Passage‘s rights were originally purchased by Fox 2000 and Ridley Scott’s Scott Free Productions, and had plans to made into a film trilogy. But after some thought, Scott Free Productions determined it was a better fit for the small screen.
Tvline was the first to report this story.