First Look At J.J. Abrams’ Alcatraz

Today we get our first look at J.J. Abrams‘ Alcatraz, which will debut midseason. Alcatraz is the new show coming to FOX and will take the shape of a thriller centred on the famous Alcatraz prison. Abrams will be executive producing and starring will be Sarah Jones, Jorge Garcia, Sam Neill, Parminder Nagra, Robert Forster, Santiago Cabrera, Jonny Coyne, and Jason Butler Harner.

Now there’s a couple reasons why I’m excited for this one. First is because of J.J. Abrams. Television fans may know him from LOST or Fringe and film fans may know him from Star Trek of Super 8. Either way, if you’re familiar with any of his work whether it be the aforementioned projects, or others like Mission Impossible 3, Alias etc, you know how brilliant he is. He’s one of the most intriguing people working in Hollywood currently and anything he does turns to gold.

Aside from Abrams, the show also boasts a nice cast (it’ll be nice to see Jorge Garcia back on screen) and the plot sounds interesting. There’s no doubt in my mind that this show will achieve the same success as, dare I say, LOST? It has the potential and if you don’t believe me just check out the plot summary, trailer and photos below.

When San Francisco Police Department DET. REBECCA MADSEN (Sarah Jones, “Sons of Anarchy”) is assigned to a grisly homicide case, a fingerprint leads her to a shocking suspect: JACK SYLVANE (guest star Jeffrey Pierce, “The Nine”), a former Alcatraz inmate who died decades ago. Given her family history – both her grandfather and surrogate uncle, RAY ARCHER (Robert Forster, “Jackie Brown”), were guards at the prison – Madsen’s interest is immediately piqued, and once the enigmatic, knows-everything-but-tells-nothing government agent EMERSON HAUSER (Sam Neill, “Jurassic Park”) tries to impede her investigation, she’s doggedly committed. Madsen turns to Alcatraz expert and comic book enthusiast, DR. DIEGO “DOC” SOTO (Jorge Garcia, “Lost”), to piece together the inexplicable sequence of events.

The twosome discovers that Sylvane is not only alive, but he’s loose on the streets of San Francisco, leaving bodies in his wake. And strangely, he hasn’t aged a day since he was in Alcatraz, when the prison was ruled by the iron-fisted WARDEN EDWIN JAMES (Jonny Coyne, “Undercovers”) and the merciless ASSOCIATE WARDEN E.B. TILLER (Jason Butler Harner, “The Changeling”). Madsen and Soto reluctantly team with Agent Hauser and his technician, LUCY BANERJEE (Parminder Nagra, “ER”), to stop Sylvane’s vengeful killing spree. By delving into Alcatraz history, government cover-ups and Rebecca’s own heritage, the team will ultimately discover that Sylvane is only a small part of a much larger, more sinister present-day threat. For while he may be the first, it quickly becomes clear that Sylvane won’t be the last prisoner to reappear from Alcatraz.

Through the course of the investigation, Madsen and Soto will learn that Agent Hauser has known about the prison’s secret history and has been awaiting the prisoners’ return. Soto will witness his life’s work – the history of Alcatraz – come alive. Madsen will be forced to keep her supportive San Francisco cop fiancé, JIMMY DICKENS (Santiago Cabrera, “Heroes”), at arm’s length from the highly classified assignment as she sees everything she thought she knew about herfamily’s past shattered, all while fighting to keep the country safe from history’s most dangerous criminals.